Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Senator Paul Gavan will take two minutes. I welcome the SIPTU representatives and the representatives of the child care sector in the Gallery today. Currently, child care is one of the greatest financial pressures facing families in the State, especially young families, as Senator Richmond has outlined. We have some of the highest child care costs in the world, and the cost is commonly referred to as a second mortgage. While Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil speak of tax cuts, which disproportionately benefit the well-off in our society, Sinn Féin has a different vision. We want an early years sector of which we can be proud. We believe child care is a public service and, to that end, we want reliable, high-quality and affordable child care that is available to all.

We understand that investment in child care is far more beneficial than the extra euro or two a week in a person’s pocket proposed by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. High-quality and affordable child care is not only socially and academically beneficial to the child, it also benefits wider society and the economy, allows parents, especially women, to return to the labour force and steer clear of potential poverty traps, and provides employment to the many valuable workers, 90% of whom are women, in the child care sector.

Two-parent families in Ireland with two children under the age of five pay on average between 25% to 34% of take-home pay on child care. This is twice the European average. For one-parent families, it is even more. Following a 20 country study, the OECD concluded that the best way to achieve affordability and quality in the child care sector at the same time is via subsidised child care.

In truth, despite budget 2018, for many families child care costs are still acting as a second mortgage. The Government’s overall proposed €20 million investment in the early years sector falls short of what we believe is needed. Many child care providers face serious questions on how they can provide a high-quality service, as expected by parents and Tusla. Early Childhood Ireland has outlined the main challenges. These are delivering quality services to children, maintaining the reserve required under company and charity laws, remunerating staff appropriately, paying bills, and having money set aside to carry out necessary maintenance works and to reinvest in the service.

Will the Minister expand on the details of a number of measures announced in budget 2018? The Government stated that it will increase the subsidies under the community child care subvention, CCS, targeted schemes introduced in September 2017 in advance of the commencement of the single affordable child care scheme. The statement does not contain any numbers apart from saying it will come from a €20 million fund which must also cover several other measures. Will the Minister detail how much of the €20 million will be targeted towards these subsidies and how much it will mean for families dealing with costs?

The Government also announced that the ECCE scheme will be extended from the current average of 61 weeks to give an entitlement of a full two years, that is, 76 weeks, of care and education. Will the Minister detail how, in practical terms, this will be rolled out as there are serious questions over whether the capacity exists in the sector to make this extension?

There was no direct reference to any increased recognition of non-contact time. Does the Minister seek to address this issue given the high volume of administration work needed when it comes to delivering child care schemes?

The term "other measures" was referenced in budget 2018 as part of the €20 million increase. Will the Minister detail what is meant by this?