Last week there was a protest by childcare providers outside Leinster House against chronic underfunding in the sector. Everyone knows we need a major overhaul of the way our society cares for children, but can we make childcare tax-deductible this year and end the cost freeze idea? And if not, why not?
Tired of complaining about the cost of childcare. Every parent is.
We all know the story. Ireland is one of the most expensive countries in the world to raise children and we pay some of the highest childcare benefits in the EU.
Childcare allowances in Dublin for three children would be a loss to me.
I only succeed because I can mainly work from home, yet every day is like a perpetual game of logistics Twister and locking myself in the bathroom to take phone calls.
It goes something like this: If I drop them on my boyfriend during his lunch break, I’ll be close to reeling in that radio interview, and if I take my baby for an earlier nap than usual, I’ll have to pick up that edit for the younger toddler.
My weeks are a patchwork of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), my boyfriend, help from other parents and sometimes – in an emergency – I take one or all three with me.
You tie the baby to your chest, make sure the iPad is fully charged for the other two, and then you bring enough snacks to keep them quiet.
During the pandemic, my chances of making money and staying relevant declined as the lockdowns kept coming and I had no one to babysit the kids while I tried to work.
If one of the kids is sick these days, I might miss deadlines.
If one of the links in my small support circuit breaks, I have to work through the night.
But I’m lucky. I have a job that allows me to work from home.
There is a limited amount of government support available to some parents, depending on their income.
But most of us have to wait for our child to qualify for ECCE to get as much as 15 hours of free childcare per week, which children don’t need before then.
If women stay at home because they can’t afford to work, or if they work because they can’t afford to stay at home, it’s a national crisis. That’s an emergency.
But our government’s message to women is that no matter how good you are at your job or how much you love it, if you have a child you can go back to work when they turn three, except we only pay for your childcare for 15 hours a week.
Stay at home until they go to big school and then you can work to your heart’s content between 9am and 1.30pm. Maybe more if you are lucky enough to have access to breakfast clubs and after school clubs.
Years of underfunding have left the childcare sector on the brink of collapse, but the government barely recognizes the devastating impact this would have on our children, the economy and women’s equality.
And we ignore the fact that childcare is not an option, it is a necessity, a basic amenity that is as essential as the electricity that powers our homes.
So, what’s new?
Well, the government is said to be throwing 221 million euros at the problem, but also demand a fee freeze, despite warnings that it will close crèches and put pressure on providers.
Providers say new core funding proposals for ECCE providers and nurseries could close hundreds of local services as they are asked to limit fees to last year’s inflation rate of 2.2 pc.
In other countries, childcare is seen as essential infrastructure.
Study after study shows that much of the cost of free universal pre-school childcare could be recouped through job growth, but our government only thinks in the short term.
It says it takes a village to raise a child. I would have to agree.
Instead of messing around with price freezes and measly paternity leave extensions, why not go all out and introduce universal free childcare?
We do this for education and care for children under six.
There is nothing I would like more than state-provided, quality childcare that is free at the time of entry.
Raising the next generation is something that should be a priority.
But I am a realist.
Socializing childcare would cost an arm and a leg. And I’m not sure we can afford it.
Alternatively, why don’t we ever talk about the fact that our childcare expenses are not tax deductible?
Because the cost of such a policy would be largely offset by women returning to work and paying taxes.
Make childcare tax-deductible for working parents.
Set up a subsidy for those who earn below a certain income. It seems the fairest solution. For everyone.
The fact that the government is now talking about childcare offers a glimmer of hope that someone somewhere could do something about this problem, in the next 20 or 30 years.
Not that that helps those of us trying to figure out what to do now, in the months ahead.
I hold onto a glimmer of hope that a career and a family are still an option in Ireland.
Unfortunately, our government knows that we will just keep going and navigating the impossible struggle between paying for childcare and working.