Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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OECD data from 2018, before the introduction of the NCS in late 2019, showed that early learning and childcare costs in Ireland, relative to household income, were the highest in the EU for couples on low incomes and third highest for lone parents on low incomes, with couples paying on average 26.5 per cent and lone parents paying 25.2 per cent, compared to the EU averages of 9.6 per cent and 10.5 per cent respectively.

By 2021, early learning and childcare costs in Ireland fell to 14.2 per cent of net income for couples and 5.3 per cent for lone parents - compared to the EU averages of 8.1 per cent and 8.4 per cent respectively.

It is important to note that these data do not take account of enhancements made to the NCS in 2022 and early 2023, these include:

• The removal of the practice of deducting hours spent in pre-school or school from NCS awards, meaning that parents are able to use their full awarded subsidised NCS hours regardless of whether their children are in pre-school or school.
• The increase in the upper age eligibility for the NCS universal subsidy from 3 years to all children under 15 years.
• An increase in the NCS minimum subsidy from €0.50 to €1.40 per hour.

Furthermore, Budget 2024 will result in a further increase in the minimum subsidy from €1.40 per hour to €2.14. This translates to up to €96.30 off families’ weekly bill for early learning and childcare per child using 45 hours of early learning and childcare.