Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the house for this important debate on early child care. A recent newspaper report indicated a third of women in this country could not avail of work if they wished to due to the cost of child care. Several reports highlight the issues of the quality and cost of child care. The 2012 starting well index, published by The Economistintelligence unit, attempts to rate the quality, affordability and accessibility of early childhood education services. Finland, Sweden and Norway receive the top three scores in the world. Ireland comes well down the ranking in 18th place, between the Czech Republic and Hong Kong.

The 2008 UNICEF report card set ten international standards for high quality, accessible early childhood services. Of the 25 countries studied, Ireland came joint bottom of the league table, with only one out of ten standards met, although some progress has been made since 2008. Sweden came top, meeting all ten standards, while Denmark, Finland and Norway followed close behind, meeting eight standards each.

We all realise there are serious issues to be dealt with. What we need to discuss is how they are tackled. I will not have time to go into every issue in detail so I will devote my time to a few major concerns. In doing so I reiterate there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this problem and the issue must be tackled holistically. One of the proposals is some form of increased child care tax credit, and Senator van Turnhout has addressed this. I do not think this is the answer for a number of reasons. Research from the OECD shows the best way to make child care affordable and of a high quality is to directly subsidise places in early years services and tie this funding to quality. We need to learn from other countries and not repeat their mistakes. Providing a tax credit will benefit those who need it least more than those who need it most. Someone on the minimum wage would get very little relief while someone earning €100,000 a year would get substantial relief. In this light I impress upon the Minister that the Nordic countries, which have the most accessible and affordable child care systems, use a method of subvention and not tax relief. It is a much fairer system and it works. Tax credits for child care can lead to costs increasing, as has happened in other countries where they have been introduced.

While recent public debate has focused on tax credits as a way of tackling child care costs, they can and have had exactly the opposite effect elsewhere in recent years. When the Netherlands and Australia moved to child care tax credits during the 2000s, both subsequently saw the rise in child care costs outstripping inflation and negating the financial benefit of the tax credits for parents. Child care costs more than doubled in Australia between 1996 and 2007, even though a child care tax rebate was introduced during that period.

Another issue is investment. The OECD average investment in child care is 0.8%. In Ireland our spend is approximately 0.2%. The simple fact is that quality services cost money. As a general point, if we as a country want these services accessible and affordable, our tax take must reflect this. It is not possible in a small country such as ours to have very high-quality public services and low taxation. It is simply the case that we do not expend sufficient tax revenue in areas that would lead to a greater supply and quality of child care. The free preschool year has been a great success. Many of the parents and child care providers in Galway to whom I have spoken say they would rather have the first year extended, should parents wish to avail of it, than a second free preschool year. In his future considerations the Minister might examine ways of making the free preschool year as flexible as possible for parents.

Quality is another issue. Much has been said in recent years about the cost of child care. This is very true, but there is no point in providing affordable child care that does not meet a child's developmental needs. In this light I note the provision of high-quality services is central to the Nordic model of early care and education and after-school services. The quality of these services rests above all on the skills and experience of staff. Those working in early care and education and after-school care are recognised as professionals, with high levels of qualifications. Quality standards are high in services for children throughout the age range from one to 12. The proportion of contact staff in early years services who have a three-year graduate qualification ranges from 30% in Finland to 60% in Denmark. In Denmark and Sweden, after-school services are staffed by pedagogues who have three to three and a half years' tertiary qualification.

While there are moves to improve the qualifications of staff involved in the Irish system, I will make a few points in this regard.If we are to insist that child care staff are educated to degree level, retraining supports must be put in place for those currently in the system as without them the system will be drained of personnel.

Degrees are not the be all and end all. Many of those working in the child care system provide sterling services without a third level qualification. For this reason, a balance must be struck between ensuring a suitable degree of formal education and the practical and often long-term experience of child care workers in the system.

I am pleased the House is debating this issue. It is important that we seek to provide accessible, affordable and high-quality child care services. The Minister is committed to reform. Child care costs are second only to mortgage costs in terms of the financial headache they create for many households.