Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome to the House and I thank her for being here. I want to make a few general points about early and preschool education in Ireland. We are both former teachers. I was a primary school teacher back in the 1980s, briefly. In fact, I would say that I have not really worked since. It is a very tough job. Philosophically, we all accept that the State should provide education for children at primary level, from junior infants and senior infants right through, and at second level. The State supports tertiary and higher education. State involvement in preschool and early learning is a "no-brainer", to quote George Lee. The Minister and I and everybody else here knows that by the time a child is 18 months old, all of the software has been installed and they are hardwired to be good citizens and to self-actualise. Those crucial years from birth to preschool are actually the most critical period. As Senators Comyn and Clifford-Lee have said, the sentient interactions they have with adults, male and female, at that point, where they may be coming from households that are chaotic, under pressure or stressed, have a hugely positive impact. We should see preschool and childcare not as a commodity or a for-profit exercise but as something that should, ultimately, be the responsibility of the State.

According to the OECD, Ireland has the second-highest childcare costs in the OECD. I have four children who came in quite close succession and, before they went to school, we were paying €900 per child per month. It was a monthly bill of €3,600 just to be able to go out to work. One would have to earn €7,200 to generate that amount of income. It is very tough for families and particularly for women. My colleagues here pointed out that in Ireland this is often constructed as a very gendered issue. We saw some of that rhetoric around the care referendum last year, where it was constructed as being the responsibility of women. It is not; it is an all-of-society issue. If we want to continue our economic success given the new challenges which confront us, we have to do everything in our power to encourage women to get into the workplace.

To that end, one can look at the cost of childcare in other European cities. In Dublin at the moment the average is €1,300 per month per child. It is almost like a one-child policy. I do not know who could afford that. In the awful calculations, we were just about able to have four children at €3,600 per month, but if it is €1,300 per month for one child, what does one do with the rest one's salary? One squanders it on food, I imagine. In Dublin, the cost per child is €1300 per month; in Berlin the average is between €150 and €400 per month; in Paris the average is €400 per month; in Madrid it is €100 to €300 per month; in Brussels it is €400 per month; and in Copenhagen it is about €200 per month, and that is the case throughout the Nordic countries. They are societies which have decided that it is in the strategic interests of their economy and well-being to support childcare.

I would favour an école maternelle system like they have in France. It is a uniform system across the school campus whereby children and babies come in and have those sentient interactions during the day. To be honest, when one looks back at our history as human beings, with the gemeinschaft of agrarian economies and our Celtic background, when a baby was born, one had an extended family to look after it. One had all sorts of people to give advice and support. It is only in the latter half of the 20th century that people, and it is mostly women, are bringing a child home from a maternity hospital into a house somewhere in a suburb and they are completely on their own. That is really tough. They do not have anybody to hand the child to when the child becomes upset or if they need a break. They do not have somebody to tap them on the shoulder to say that they know what that cry is, it is wind, and so on. I know this might sound facile but there is a huge amount of social pressure on women to stay at home and look after children on their own. That is actually unnatural, however. What happens in preschool and early childcare and all of that actually replicates that gemeinschaft model of looking after children which we had in our past and it is a more natural and rounded way to do it.I have become aware that a lot of crèches around the city and around the country will not take babies. They will not take children under one year of age. That really puts people under pressure. People get grandparents involved, if they are lucky enough to have grandparents who live close enough, to provide assistance

Our experience of childcare, as a family, has been absolutely superb. That is echoed by some of my colleagues. At the age of 18 months, one of my children's developmental milestones started to go backwards and he was diagnosed with a complex neuromuscular condition. The crèche did everything in their power to include him in the heart of the crèche. Without having to be prompted, they made all of the necessary adjustments to make it completely accessible and inclusive for him. In other areas of our journey we have had to fight for everything. That was the one area where we did not have to fight. The early childcare providers' representative groups are pushing for greater professionalisation in that area and more support. It is something that I support and it is consistent with our family's experience.

I wish the Minister well. One of her predecessors - maybe it was Brian Lenihan - introduced the first measures that gave us subsidies. We benefited from those for our youngest child. We are very appreciative of that. I know the Minister will continue that great work and great legacy over the next five years. As Senator Clifford-Lee said, if it could be reduced to €200 per month over the lifetime of this Government, we would be consistent with best practice throughout Europe. I know the Minister is committed to that. I wish her the best of luck in that endeavour.