Ireland bottom of childcare league
Ireland is bottom of the European league when it comes to childcare support for working families, Dublin Labour MEP Proinsias De Rossa said yesterday.
He called on the Government to spell out how it intends to reverse what he termed a deplorable situation.
Quoting the findings of a recent report by the European Trade Union Institute he said: "I was absolutely disgusted to find in this study of childcare support for working families that Ireland comes at the very bottom of the table. Childcare facilities here offer the least support for working families."
Mr De Rossa wondered why the current Government was the least family friendly despite a healthy economic performance. "Whereas Irish families benefit from an average spending level of €197, their counterparts in Denmark receive benefits worth €5,026 and the EU average is more than eight times the miserly sum spent here," Mr De Rossa said.
Eight EU countries cover 100% of the cost of a place in childcare for pre-school age children, he said.
"Ireland doesn't even provide information on how the costs are split between the State and the families of the very few children who have childcare places available to them in the first place," Mr De Rossa said.
"The EU study proves what our working families are already painfully aware of they have to pay more for childcare than any other European families, no matter what their income situation is."
