ANYONE who avails of the €10,000 tax incentive to mind children in the home should undergo a 10-hour course, advocacy groups said last night.

DESPITE Government claims for the economic success of policies encouraging married women to work outside the home, the cost in human terms is clear from the new Irish Examiner survey.

THE ONLY way that crèches can be made affordable is if childcare providers are given annual subsidies of €2,500 for each child and parents are granted means-tested tax relief, according to the National Crèche and Nurseries Association.

MOST parents of newborn babies are surviving on just under four hours’ sleep as their children wake at least three times every night, according to a survey on sleeping patterns.

CHILDCARE organisations have threatened to stop their participation in a review of childcare regulations unless the new rules enshrine compulsory garda vetting of all crèche and preschool employees.

IT was every parent’s nightmare. When Denise McGrane went to collect her three-year-old son from the crèche she was told Nathan had been taken on an impromptu trip to the local park.

IT’S one of those uncomfortable realities about modern Ireland but tens of thousands of Irish children, aged six months and upwards, now spend more of their formative years in childcare than at home with parents.