Ahern vows to address ‘big issue’ of childcare in Budget

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern yesterday undertook to seriously address the “big issue” of childcare in the Budget, during a debate in the Dáil on the findings of the Irish Examiner/Lansdowne opinion poll on childcare.

A substantial package on childcare is expected to form the centrepiece of Brian Cowen’s Budget on December 7.

Yesterday Mr Ahern gave his strongest indication that the Government, with a rumoured €1 billion outlay, will widen its childcare policies beyond its two bedrock policies of increasing children’s benefit and providing more childcare places.