Parents 'paying more for childcare than mortgages'

Some Irish workers are being forced to spend more on childcare than on their mortgages, it emerged today in a survey by top recruitment website recruitireland.com.

Around 30% of dissatisfied employees found the cost of placing their child in a creche sets them back more than paying for a roof over their heads, a new survey revealed.

The study found workers feel the Government should encourage employers to make childcare facilities available.

Senator Kathleen O’Meara, Labour’s spokesperson on children, said: “The answer is not to lower the regulations but to subsidise parents and allow them to stay in the workplace.

“The current Government uses individualisation work tax regime but that just isn’t enough. We have to look at some sort of subsidy taking in fairness and equity.

“There is an absence of a serious policy on affordable childcare.”

Around a third of those surveyed said they would pay between €600 and €900 per month for each childcare place.

Maria Creighton, chairwoman of One Parent Exchange and Network (Open), said: “Often, when women do go back to work they are not making any money as the costs of childcare is so high.

"Flexible and affordable childcare should be established.

“There are a lot of single fathers as well, but it affects parents in general, full stop. It just doesn’t benefit to go back to work.”

The Department of Justice said that under the seven-year Equal Opportunities Childcare programme from 2000 to 2006 some €449m was available for childcare.

A spokeswoman said €258m of the funding from the EU and the Exchequer has been spent.

The funding has supported 55,000 day-care places, including the creation of 28,260 new positions.

Only five per cent of the 350 people who took part in the online poll over the last week said they had workplace creches, while 63% of employees said they would move jobs if offered similar work with childcare facilities.

Almost 60% said they would take varying degrees of salary cuts if given the option of a creche.

Nearly all of the workers questioned in the recruitIreland.com survey supported introducing tax incentives to encourage workers to provide childcare facilities.

Ms Creighton, of Open, which represents 76 lone parent groups around the country, said companies should be encouraged to create childcare groups.

“If they were on-site the children wouldn’t have to remain in a creche for an extra two hours while the parents are travelling to and from work,” she said.

Ms O’Meara said: “The cost of childcare is a serious hindrance to women participating in the workforce.

“It has been shown that one child is manageable, two under pressure, but most women with three children leave the workforce.

“Other solutions to that are part-time work or job-sharing and, of course, paid parental leave when small children are making transitions like into school. Or situations when they can get summer off are big benefits.”

However, around three-quarters of employees said they believed taking parental leave could hinder their chances of promotion at work.

“The pressure is so severe that women do take the options,” she added.