Childcare expenses dictating size of families

THE huge cost of childcare is deciding the size of Irish families, according to the Irish Examiner/Lansdowne Market Research (LMR) poll.

Couples where both parents work admitted that having another child would force one of them to give up their job.

Almost half of couples (48%) feel childcare is so expensive that either the mother or father has considered giving up work, regardless of whether they had plans to extend their family.

Figures from the survey show:

* One-in-five couples is paying between €200 and €400 a month.

* 14% pay between €400 and €700 a month.

* 3% pay between €700 and €900 a month.

* 3% pay between €900 and €1,100 a month.

* 2% pay over €1,100 a month.

More than half of parents in households where one works part-time and the other full-time felt one or the other would have to drop out of the labour market if they were to have another child.

In families where both parents work and the children are of pre-school age, 53% believe one would have to give up working if they were to have another child. Four out of 10 families with two children believe having a third child would force one of them to give up work.

Of families with one child, 37% felt one parent would have to stay at home if they were to have a second child.

The vast majority of parents agreed childcare was too expensive and there has been inadequate provision for childcare by the Government.

Just one-in-10 believes childcare is reasonably affordable in this country. The same number believes the Government has adequately provided for childcare, with, unsurprisingly, dissatisfaction highest in households where at least one parent is in the home.

Families with children under the age of five, where both parents work are similarly dissatisfied, with just 4% agreeing the Government’s provision of quality childcare is adequate.