Swinging sixties: How the childcare generation game could swing the next election

Parents don't want more childcare places, they want financial help to mind their children or have them cared for by grandparents, writes Political Editor Harry McGee.

IN March this year, politicians arrived from all over Ireland for canvassing duties in the Meath and Kildare North by-elections. Many discovered to their shock that they hadn't just landed in another constituency, but another country.

What they witnessed were vast housing estates emptied of their people during the day; harassed young working couples rising early to beat the traffic; large chunks of family income being spent on childminders and crèches.