Childcare costs over €200 per week in Cork city, the second highest in the country

Childcare costs just over €4 per hour on average to provide, with Cork city the second most expensive in the country. File Picture: PA

Cork city has the second highest childcare fees in the State per newly released research into the costs behind the sector.

Childcare in Ireland costs an average of just over €4 per hour to provide, according to the Independent Review of the Costs of Providing Quality Early Learning and Childcare in Ireland, conducted on behalf of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration, and Youth.

While this is similar to other countries such as Scotland and New Zealand, Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman acknowledged that cost is “based on pay rates in the sector that are unacceptably low”.

The survey notes that while €4.14 is the mean hourly cost across the State, the actual costs charged by providers vary wildly from that figure, dependent largely on service location, type, and size.

Just under 70% of costs noted by the survey, conducted by business consultants Crowe, went towards paying staff.

The highest costs in the country were, as has been the case for several years, in the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown area of south Dublin at €235 per week for full time services.

Cork city’s average was €206, just ahead of Dublin-Fingal, while the figure for Cork county was €190 per week, placing seventh in the table.

Two of the other top six areas in terms of fees charged were in Dublin regions — south Dublin and Dublin city — with Co Wicklow placing fifth with average weekly costs of €200.

The three lowest counties in terms of fees were Longford, Monaghan and Carlow, all clocking in at €150 per week or less for full time care.

Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration Children Roderic O Gorman TD.

Mr O’Gorman said that the findings of the report “give us some confidence in our current levels of State subvention”.

We have now assembled a robust evidence base to inform these future funding decisions and ensure fairness in the distribution of State supports

Nevertheless, he added, the fact that childcare workers are among the lowest paid employees in the State is something he is “acutely aware” of.

Payroll costs formed broadly the same percentage of overall business costs for service providers regardless of location, with 68% the figure in urban areas and 67% in rural zones.

Premises costs were the next largest business expense on average at just 8% of overall outlay.

Mr O’Gorman said the review provides “a rich and detailed understanding of the childcare market and a sound analytical underpinning to inform future funding decisions”.

He said the cost calculator provided by the review has already been used successfully to inform his department’s approach to funding services during Covid-19 closures in the sector.

Childcare was one of the first industries to be severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic, with services first shut on March 12, two weeks prior to the country’s initial lockdown.

They did not reopen until June 29. Major supports from the then Department of Children and Youth Affairs saw childcare workers’ wages topped up to their ordinary amount in addition to the pandemic supports being offered by the State in order to encourage workers to stay with their employer during lockdown.