Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not believe this issue gets the attention it deserves, whether it is in this House, the media or in discussion generally. This is one of the biggest issues out there, certainly in my constituency when I talk to young families in particular.

Childcare costs are absolutely crippling people. It is a second mortgage for so many families. It is a weight around their necks that prevents them from having any kind of quality of life for years on end. It means that a couple can be slow to start a family. One parent can be held back from returning to work or, very often, one parent might be effectively working just to pay for the childcare and breaking even or perhaps less than breaking even in order to be in a position to continue their career. All that time, they are paying €800, €900 or €1,00 per child and more on top of that if there are multiple children. It is absolutely crippling. It is very frustrating for parents out there who are trying to do their best and raise their families. They want to make that contribution to society and they want to work but they are not getting the support they deserve. We do not treat this as a public service like other countries do and we can see that in terms of the per head spend compared to the rest of the OECD. We do not spend enough on childcare. We do not subsidise it enough, especially compared to other countries across Europe.

That is the solution. We have to treat this as a public good and a public service. What Sinn Féin is proposing to do to drive down the cost of childcare is take on the cost of staff wages in order that fees will go down for parents. It will reduce fees by one third within the first year and then by two thirds over five years. None of this is impossible. This is about political choices.

I hope the Minister takes this on board. A large part of this is the unsustainability of the sector, and the fact that wages are too low and providers can barely break even themselves. Fundamentally, however, it is about underinvestment and about what we decide to value. This is about early years education and supporting young families. It is about ensuring that the decision to have a family and to work at the same time is not crippling or putting families into absolute penury and denying them of so many other things. Many of these families are broken in other ways too with children going back to school, energy prices, insurance fees and all the rest of it. It needs, therefore, to be addressed.

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