Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Childcare fees have become a second mortgage for families. People are struggling to meet these crazy costs. There are parents in Dublin who are paying around €800 to €1,000 per month for one child. Working families simply cannot afford this and it cannot continue. The situation for struggling families has only got worse in recent years and will continue to get worse unless the Minister does something about it.

The sector needs intervention from the Government. We need a publicly-funded childcare system that is accessible to all. The current approach to childcare has failed miserably. We have seen in the last few budgets that the Government is not committed to making the changes that are required. I hope that next week will be different. We have to start paying childcare professionals a proper wage and must start treating them as professionals. They are leaving the sector in their droves at the minute because they cannot make ends meet after a week’s work due to the terrible pay.

They must be paid a proper wage that reflects the important work they do. Their current rate of pay is insulting.

We are way off the European average when it comes to the amount of money we invest in childcare in this State. The programme for Government made any amount of promises when it came to dealing with childcare reform but the fees have continued to rise. We need the Minister to act now. He needs to reduce childcare fees by one third next year and by two thirds the year after. That is what we in Sinn Féin would do but we all must do better for parents, for children, for the sector and for the childcare professionals involved. The recent years have been wasted and we cannot afford to wait any longer.

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