LAST UPDATE | 12 Oct 2021

THE GOVERNMENT HAS announced a number of measures in the 2022 Budget to benefit children and parents when it comes to childcare. 

Government priorities include “making a generational shift in the delivery of quality childcare” said Minister Michael McGrath as he made the announcement in the Dáil this afternoon.

He said that Budget 2022 marks “a turning point in the State’s approach to the early years, and childcare sector”.

McGrath said that the ”invaluable role childcare plays into day-to-day lives of thousands of families throughout the country cannot be overstated. Our early years, and childcare workers who care for and educate our children deserve our support and should be paid a wage appropriate to the responsibilities that they carry.”

“We need more capacity in our childcare sector, and more flexibility for working parents. We also need to address the cost of childcare,” he said.

The government will invest a record €716 million next year in childcare, said McGrath.

His department is providing €78 million for additional investment in core funding for the childcare sector, and to reform the national childcare scheme. 

He said that a new funding stream for up to 4,700 early years and childcare providers will be put in place from September next year onwards, at an estimated cost of €69 million next year, to support improvements in the quality of childcare provision.

This additional funding will “improve conditions for workers”, he said. A joint labour committee for the childcare sector is due to report next September, leading to an expected employment regulation order soon after.

McGrath said that the funding the government is allocating “will support providers in attracting and retaining staff, and it will provide more options for parents and is linked to a commitment of no increases in fees to parents“.

In order to address affordability for parents, the national childcare scheme universal subsidy will be extended for children under 15 from September, benefiting up to 40,000 children at a cost of €5 million.

Up until now, only children under three years old were included in this universal subsidy, which provides 50c an hour toward the cost of a childcare place in a Tusla-registered facility.

The government will also end the practice of deducting hours spent in preschool or school from the entitlement to national childcare scheme subsidised hours.

This will benefit an estimated 5,000 children, particularly from low income families, at a cost of €4 million, said McGrath.

He also announced an extension of free GP care to children aged six and seven, with the intention to extend this cover to all children up to the age of 12.

In reaction to the news, Childhood Services Ireland said that while longer subsidised hours of childcare and expanded access to subsidised childcare for working families and unemployed people “are welcome measures, they do little make childcare more affordable”.

Childhood Services Ireland’s Director, Darragh Whelan, said: ‘’Extending the amount of subsidised childcare hours does nothing for parents who can’t afford childcare in the first place. What the parent needs is increased universal subsidies, as we called for in our pre-Budget submission.”

Waiting lists are already far too long and there simply aren’t enough childcare places to meet demand. The proposed funding for staff wages is welcome but the investment will have to be significant to reduce parental fees and ensure providers can afford to keep their doors open and the lights on.

In a statement, Labour TD Ivana Bacik said the changes to the National Childcare Scheme and subsidies for working families and unemployed people were welcome but that the Budget “falls short”.

Bacik said that the extension of Parent’s Leave and Benefit “cannot be a band-aid to disguise the fact that fees make childcare inaccessible for families across the country”.

“Indeed, many parents will not benefit from this measure because the social welfare payment is insufficient for those keeping up with the spiralling cost of living, and housing in particular,” she said.

One Family, an organisation for one-parent families, has “huge concerns about the lack of supports for one-parent families in the rental sector”.

“While private landlords are supported, we see no help for these families,” One Family CEO Karen Kiernan said.

“The investment in childcare is a welcome step on the road to a fully publicly funded system, but it’s imperative the additional funding makes access easier for low-income families,” Kiernan said.

Similarly, St Vincent De Paul’s Head of Social Justice Dr. Tricia Keilthy said the social welfare payment increases only “ust about cover the increase in the cost of living after two years when the rate didn’t rise”.

They are still at a level that is below the poverty line and well below the cost of a minimum standard of living. The increase in the payment for older children falls short of the support that families need.

Karen Clince of Tigers Childcare said that staff retention has become a major issue for the sector and that “if you can’t employ quality staff for children because of low pay rates, then you don’t have quality”.

“Direct state investment in childcare to improve staff pay is well overdue. We have people working in this sector that are highly qualified – many to degree and Master’s level – and they deserve to earn a professional salary for the professional work they do,” Clince said.

“We also need to financially support families who struggle to afford childcare, so that they can go to work. In this day and age, childcare should not be a barrier to having a job or career.”

With reporting by Lauren Boland