Parents at home or work should each get aid

WORKING parents should get tax relief on childcare, and stay-at-home parents should get a State payment to look after their children, the first ever nationwide media poll on childcare shows.

The findings are remarkable in that stay-at-home parents support giving financial help to working parents, who in turn support state help for parents in the home.

The across-the-board support for Government initiatives to ease the burden of childcare is obvious:

* nine out of 10 households, where at least one parent is at home, believe the Government should provide tax relief to working parents who pay for childcare, a figure which rises to 97% in households where both parents work.

* 84% of households where both parents work, favour a state payment to stay-at-home parents. Where one parent is at home to mind the children, support for a stay-at-home payment is 85%.

* 82% of all households believe parents who stay at home should receive the same tax relief as parents who pay for childcare, and again, this is strongly supported - 79% are in agreement - by households where both parents work full-time. This increases to 83% in households where at least one parent is in the home and up to 85% where one parent works full-time and the other part-time.

Also significant was the level of support among parents for a 1% increase in the standard rate of income tax which could be used to pay for childcare.

Almost half of parents surveyed (46%) favour the tax hike, with, unsurprisingly, support up to 50% among parents who both work full-time. In the other two categories surveyed - households with one parent working full-time and the other part-time and households where at least one parent remains at home - support for the 1% tax hike was at 45%. In another indictment of the Government's handling of the childcare issue, 84% of parents believe it has failed to properly address the issue of high quality childcare, despite encouraging women to return to the workforce. Those most disillusioned are households where one parent works full-time and the other part-time, where almost nine out of 10 believe the Government has failed to provide quality childcare. This drops to just over eight in 10 in households where at one parent is at home and rises to 84% where both parents work full-time.

Separately, almost seven in 10 households agreed all child-minders who work from the home should have to register with a state body. The lowest support for this is in households where both parents work full-time, at 67%. In the other two categories, where parents work full-time/part-time or where at least one parent is in the home, support for registration is 70%.

The Irish Examiner/LMS poll surveyed 1,081 parents of children under the age of 14

Average monthly cost of childcare

* Creche (full-time): €724 Dublin, €575 rest of country.

* Childminder (full-time): €491.

* Family member: €279.

Overall average cost of childcare

* Full-time: €473.

* Part-time: €390.

* Full-time childcare pre-school €525.

Who pays what

* Almost four in 10 pay between 0-€200.

* 18% pay between €201-400.

* 14% pay between €401-700.

* 7% pay between €701-1100.

* 2% pay €1,100+

* based on a poll of 1,081 parents, excluding those where one parent stays at home.

Who meets our childcare needs

* In one out of two cases, a parent stays at home full-time, and in one out of 10 cases, the parent provides part-time care.

* Family members, primarily grandparents provide cover in one in five cases.

* This means either parents or family are involved, full or part-time, in 83% of childcare arrangements.

* Childminders meet 13% of childcare needs.

* Creches meet 6%, but half is part-time care.