Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for setting out the detail of the Department’s annual report. I am glad to say that we, in the Oireachtas special Joint Committee on Gender Equality, are on track to complete our work in December and to produce a report on the implementation of the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality. I look forward to engaging with the Taoiseach on that.

In terms of strategic priorities for our economic development and social progress, one glaring issue which requires prioritisation by the Taoiseach and Government is childcare and early years education. The State is currently investing millions into a mostly privately run, for-profit sector, but we are still no closer to the sort of public, universal childcare service for which the Labour Party has long advocated. Our current system is failing parents, professionals, providers and, most importantly, children. Every day, I hear from constituents who cannot access any place in childcare and this is particularly the case for babies who are under 12 months old. One woman who was very distressed contacted me. Her baby is yet to be born, but she anticipates that she will have immense difficulty in finding any crèche place, let alone one that is affordable, particularly until her child reaches 12 months old. We have seen recent reports in The Irish Times citing the average cost per month for childcare in Finland as €150. The cost in Dublin is almost ten times that at €1,100, €1,200 and €1,300 per month per child. We have called for the Government to introduce a radical and creative measure in this budget to cap childcare costs at €200 per month, per child. We believe that sort of investment by the State would cost approximately €270 million per year to do that. We believe that would be a real investment in an equal early years approach to children, children's rights and to that ensuring parents would have some help and some support in meeting these exorbitant rising costs that they are facing with childcare, which are like a second mortgage for so many.

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