Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and am delighted to contribute to the debate on the important measures that have been introduced.

As a percentage of wages, net child care costs in Ireland are among the highest in the EU. They are the second highest for couples and the highest for single parents. We have a country-specific recommendation from the European Commission to improve this but we have a long way to go when it comes to child care in this country.

Obviously child care needs differ in every home and parents want more choice and more affordable options. The cost of child care is a significant matter playing on the minds of working parents, as well as whether it will work out for them. Indeed, it was the single most frequently raised issue during the recent general election campaign. During the canvass, child care was something that came up at every second door. It is something that particularly affects couples who are out at work.

The Growing Up in Ireland study, perhaps the most important piece of research ever undertaken in this country, has now completed its first decade of work. The study included research on parents' child care choices. The data collected in 2008 and 2009 showed that 23% and 50% of children aged nine months, three years and nine years received non-parental care. Parental care was favoured by the majority for all age groups. Where parental care was not possible, the favoured option for babies was relative care, followed by a childminder, followed by centre-based care. Centre-based care was favoured over childminders for children over three years of age. An additional source of data on parental choice is the CSO. Although the latest available data are from 2007, they showed that most parents at that time opted to have their children cared for by a parent. Of the 25% who did not do so, child care provided by a relative was the favoured option.

Since 2007, however, child care costs have increased and with the intervening downturn, many middle-income parents found child care costs an overwhelming financial burden. As such, I strongly welcome the inclusion of the affordable child care scheme in budget 2017 and acknowledge the vital role the Minister has played in bringing that to fruition. The €19 million in additional funds provided by the scheme will be added to the funding for the existing targeted schemes to arrive at an overall budget for the scheme. The scheme will be available from September 2017 and will provide crucial financial support for parents towards the significant cost of child care in this country. This affordable child care scheme will replace the existing targeted child care subsidisation scheme with a single, streamlined and more user-friendly scheme. It will provide a system from which both universal and targeted subsidies can be provided towards the cost of child care which is to be welcomed.

The Minister has already outlined the many benefits of the new scheme, key among them being the reduction in poverty. We have been given some fairly clear directions in that regard from the EU. The scheme will enhance affordability and encourage labour market activation. I welcome the fact that overall, this scheme is pro-women and pro-family. It gives excellent assistance to working families.

The scheme will be open to all child care providers who are registered with Tusla, including both centre-based child care providers - crèches, pre-schools and day centres - and childminders. Crucially, as the Minister outlined, it is a national scheme which will be open to all child care providers. Participation in the scheme by those providers will be voluntary and the choice of child care provider will be one for parents, subject to the provider participating in the scheme. Local city and county child care committees will be able to help parents to find providers who are participating in the scheme. It is expected that the 900 community or not-for-profit services currently in existence will register for the scheme, in addition to a large percentage of private providers.

The programme for Government is committed to the introduction of a robust model for subsidised, high-quality child care for children aged nine to 36 months. At present, paid maternity leave in Ireland extends to 26 weeks or roughly six months, although the programme for Government commits to further increases in parental leave in the first year of a child's life. In line with current leave entitlements, the universal subsidy will be available from six months. This approach recognises that the cost of child care can push many parents out of the labour market when paid leave ends.Indeed, the gap between the end of paid leave and the start of an entitlement to early care and education is an international indicator used to examine national policies in this area. I believe this provides a much-needed and long-awaited break for squeezed middle-income families who may have previously just missed out on several other family assistance schemes due to means test eligibility grounds.

With regard to the issue of informal care from grandparents and neighbours, it is vital that the value of the work they do is recognised. However, for the State to subsidise children’s care, there exists a need to know where the children are and who the childminders are. There is scope for abuse and I would welcome hearing the Minister's view. It is the responsibility of the State to assess the children who are being minded.

How does Ireland’s early years spending compare with other countries? Including the spend on infant classes in primary schools, total early years spending in Ireland post-budget 2017 will be 0.55% of GDP, using 2014 GDP figures, an increase on this year’s 0.5% GDP figure. For the first time, total early years spending, including spending on infant classes in primary schools, will now exceed €1 billion per year. While this represents great progress, there has been some criticism of the scheme by a number of child care providers and crèche owners, who say they are not benefiting in any way. They have pointed out that the scheme should have included a subsidy for providers to ensure the quality of the child care is of a high standard. They may have a point in this regard and additional funding to assist child care providers to ensure quality should be considered as a matter of priority. I would welcome the Minister's comments.

There have also been some objections from stay-at-home parents who choose to keep their children at home and who claim they are not being valued to same degree as child care providers. Although there is a provision in this scheme to increase their tax credit by €100, raising it to €1,100 in total, perhaps this point should be examined further. I would be interested to hear the Minister's comments on this also.

This budget builds on universal progress made to date. The universal aspect is to help parents who want or need to go back to work or education. It bridges the gap in what is an expensive time from the end of maternity leave to the start of the free pre-school year. I agree with Senator Clifford-Lee's comments with regard to the point that pre-school year is limited and can create difficulties for many families. Nonetheless, for a couple with a child in full-time crèche or with a registered childminder, the saving will work out at €906, which is significant. It builds on last month’s introduction of the second free pre-school year, which is saving parents on average €4,000 per child. The number of children benefiting from the extension is going from 67,000 to some 127,000.

I commend the Minister's work on this very important area, which has been long-neglected. I welcome the Government's focus on it for the last number of years and its renewed current focus.