Joyce Fegan: Childcare measure in budget is hardly a game-changer

Bringing the 50c an hour to €1.40 an hour is a big step, but the lived reality of doing paid work while rearing a family in Ireland is a complicated manoeuvring of many moving parts

The move from 50c an hour under the National Childcare Scheme to €1.40 an hour is not nothing, but it's far, far from a silver bullet. File Picture.

Living the day-to-day reality of childcare in Ireland is a bit like juggling several Rubik's Cubes you're simultaneously trying to solve.

Yesterday the suited-and-booted politicians of Dáil Éireann said parents were going to see an on-average 25% reduction in childcare costs. It sounds game-changing. Let's walk through that in the lived reality of your life.