Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

Will the Government increase significantly in the budget the monthly rate of child benefit to help families struggling with the cost of living and will it help parents by funding childcare properly? The thousands of people protesting outside are a graphic illustration that the Government's policy of relying on the private sector to provide quality, affordable childcare has utterly failed. It is a failure for parents who pay some of the highest childcare fees in Europe. It is a failure for childcare workers who are still being paid poverty wages by private childcare operators and a failure for many small operators who are struggling to make ends meet while big change such as Giraffe and Safari Childcare have been raking in millions, even during the pandemic. This must stop. Will the Taoiseach commit to fully publicly funding childcare in the budget by abolishing childcare fees, increasing childcare workers' wages by at least €2 per hour as a step towards payscales on par with teachers and moving towards a fully publicly-owned, free, national childcare service.

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