‘Crippling’ childcare costs deter return to work

THE odds are stacked against lone parents in Ireland as childcare costs eat up more than half the income of those at work, while government benefits for stay-at-home parents leave them in poverty, an international study finds.

A comprehensive study called Bosses and Babies by the Paris-based OECD puts Ireland firmly at the bottom of the league when it comes to providing affordable childcare and close to the top for children at risk of poverty.

It prescribes full-time employment as a way out of poverty for single-parent families, but acknowledges that Ireland has very large numbers of children in poverty, even among working parents.