Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend my colleague, an Teachta Funchion, not just on this motion but on all the work she has done and continues to do with regard to childcare. The cost of childcare has come up often in my time in this Chamber. It is one of the most recurring issues we discuss week after week. The crisis across the childcare sector has been raised in this House and, indeed, across the airwaves. It is a crisis that affects workers, parents and providers.

Childcare costs in this State are among the highest in the world. They are driving up the cost of living for families who are also struggling with rising rents and rocketing energy prices, to which the Government seems to be completely oblivious. Action must be taken because the cost of inaction is wrecking people's lives and it will damage society. The model of childcare we have is broken and we need to move towards a publicly funded model.

While average monthly full-time childcare fees are approximately €750 per child, some families in my area are paying €1,200 plus per month for their childcare needs. If they have more than one child in full-time care, however, the cost is even more again. One can see the way it adds up and people get very little by way of a discount for additional kids just in case the Minister thinks there is a bargain there; there is not. It is not sustainable. These extreme costs are causing parents to drop out of the workforce and to undertake full-time childcare duties. This disproportionately affects women and the Minister will be aware of that as well. It is predominantly women who will put their careers on hold and leave good jobs to reduce their hours to part-time to be able to care for their children.

When I was a significantly younger woman than I am today, I had access to subsidised childcare, without which I would not have been able to go to work. At the time, childcare fees were relatively manageable for most people but where I was working and with what I was earning, without that subsidised childcare, I would not have been able to go to work and neither would I have been able to go to college. It would have been too much for us as a family to be able to afford. I had the conversation with my husband about which of us was going to give up work if we could not access subsidised childcare. That is what happens. It leaves people with no choices. The Minister needs to accept that the model is broken, take on board the suggestions an Teachta Funchion has been making repeatedly and move towards a model that will work for parents because they are being creased.

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