Families urged to take advantage of €19m aid scheme

Families with young children have been urged to take advantage of a new €19m state aid support scheme that is set to come on stream next month and is aiming to help thousands of households across the country.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar made the request as he was forced to reject claims the mooted €5 budget pension rise will reduce the money available to help young families and place added pressure on the already stretched childcare support system.

Under plans announced by Mr Varadkar and Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone yesterday, existing support schemes for young families are due to be amalgamated into the Affordable Childcare Scheme from next month.

The scheme, which has previously been flagged by the Government, involves a €1,040 universal support for all children aged between six months and three years and a separate support scheme for families on lower incomes worth up to €7,500 a year.

The new system has faced significant controversy in recent months, with Ms Zappone forced to clarify earlier this year that its establishment was facing a series of unexpected stumbling blocks.

However, speaking at the launch of the scheme and a linked public awareness campaign announcing the new aids yesterday, she and Mr Varadkar said up to 5,000 families are likely to benefit from the changes this year taking a significant strain off their personal finances.

The family state support announcement came as Mr Varadkar was forced to reject claims that the focus on funding aids for hard-pressed families could be undermined by the likely €5 pension increase in the next budget.

Asked about the move at the affordable childcare launch, the Taoiseach said it is an “economist’s” argument to claim the issues cannot help each other, claiming “politicians see the bigger picture” and that grandparents are also involved in childrearing.

“The programme for Government includes a commitment to increase the pension in line with inflation or better. That’s our intention for this budget, but the details have to be worked out.

“I can understand the argument that any resources you give to pensioners is a resource you could be giving to childcare. But it is an argument made by economists and accounts. Politicians see the bigger picture.

“In any family you could have a grandparent on the pension, parents struggling to pay a mortgage and children.

“When you look at the bigger picture, providing a childcare subsidy like this for people with children helps the whole family unit, including pensioners who are very often called on now to assist with the bills of their children in their 30s or 40s who very often are struggling with their childcare costs and their mortgage,” he said.