PD childcare plan could save parents €3,000

PARENTS of schoolgoing children could save almost €3,000 a year under childcare proposals by the Progressive Democrats.

The cost of childcare for these children could be dramatically reduced if schools were used for the purpose, members will hear when the proposals are unveiled at the party's annual conference in Cork next weekend. About 17,100 families nationwide pay for early-morning or after-school care for primary school children, Central Statistics Office figures show.

Families in Dublin pay an average €91.33 a week for such care, with families outside the capital paying an average of €75.94.

Based on parents working a 48-week year, this amounts to more than €4,300 a year in Dublin and €3,600 elsewhere. But PD senator John Minihan believes this bill could be reduced to €1,500 a year if schools were to be utilised.

Mr Minihan will outline a number of childcare proposals at the conference which the party is expected to adopt as formal policy. They include tax breaks and liberalisation of the childcare sector.

The main proposal, however, is to use the State's schools as childcare centres outside normal school hours. Education spokesperson Mr Minihan believes this would reduce the need for new childcare centres, as well as cutting insurance, lighting and heating bills for childcare providers. The result, he says, is that childcare would be significantly cheaper.

"With over 3,000 primary and 750 secondary schools in the State, all of which are largely under-utilised outside of normal school hours, we have the means to provide facilities for school-age children," he said.

Under the proposal, parents could drop children to school before lessons begin, and childcare providers would be on hand to take care of them. Similarly, when lessons end, the childcare providers would be there to mind them until their parents return.

He says the scheme could work like the after-school facility opened in November 2002 at Milford National School in Castletroy, Co Limerick, which was funded by the State under the Equal Opportunities Childcare Fund.

Mr Minihan says a State investment of between €60 and €80 million would be enough to get the programme up and running.

The scheme is not new: Mr Minihan has based his proposals on models in Scandinavia, Canada and Spain. Here, the National Childcare Co-ordinating Committee, established by the Government in 1999, also addressed the issue of using school properties.

However, the use of school premises is a matter for their managing authorities, and not the State. This will present a major difficulty in forwarding the proposal. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, which funds State childcare programmes, has so far struggled to interest school authorities in the idea. The PD proposals come as the Government considers a number of ways to address the childcare problem before the next general election.

Social Affairs Minister Séamus Brennan has outlined a series of proposals, such as local authorities providing crèche facilities and tax relief for childcare expenses. The proposals are being considered by senior civil servants from five departments.