CHILDCARE & PARENTAL LEAVE
Each speech listed here is an edited speech. If you'd like to see the speech or debate in full, please go to the Oireachtas website and click on "Seanad Eireann" and then "Seanad Debates" and click on the relevant date as listed with each speech on this page.
Community Childcare Subvention Scheme (07/11/07)
Childcare Investment (01/02/06)
Community Childcare Subvention Scheme
07/11/07 - It is not a question of what is in the Minister of State’s proposal, but of what is missing from it (the Scheme). That is where the problem lies. There is an economic strategy to attract people into the workplace. While I do not want to sound sexist about this, in general, this strategy currently refers to attracting women into the workplace for their economic contribution to the GDP and GNP of this State. That is what needs to happen but whether we like it or not, the issue of child care is very much a women’s issue. The cost of it is shared but in the main, although not exclusively, the responsibility for it falls on women’s shoulders. If men were more reliant on child care much more would have been done in the meantime.
What can be done and what is not in the Minister of State’s proposal? The Minister of State is technically right in stating it is not means tested but based on other figures including the family income supplement. The real issue, however, is that people just above the threshold will feel they are going to be hit once more.
There is a simple way to deal with those who do not reach the threshold to which the Minister of State referred. If the State recognised the cost they are paying for child care, the obvious thing is to grant them tax relief on that expenditure. That would create a level playing pitch and would mean that persons going out to work would not be discommoded as much, although they would still face unacceptable costs.
We are currently losing a major creative input for the economy because large numbers of women in particular do not have this opportunity. The Department of Finance will say there is always somebody above the threshold, but we are penalising people for going out to work. ….. In my last employment, I lost three superb workers due to the cost of child care. They were not in low-paid employment but they could not afford the costs involved. The Department of Finance does not recognise that there is a loss to the State in this. It looks at the penny-pinching aspects of giving money here or there, but we are all losing as a result.
To move forward from the Minister of State’s points, while recognising what he has done, people above that threshold should be at least permitted a tax break. I will give the Minister of State an argument to use with the Department of Finance in the Estimates debate. Given that we are losing the creative and financial input of such people who cannot afford to go to work because of child care costs, what does it cost the State? We are all losers as a result.
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Childcare Investment
01/02/06 - I have spoken in the House about child care on three or four occasions over the past year. On the first two or three occasions, I called for five things to be delivered on. First, I asked for overall responsibility for the entire child care sector to be given to a single Cabinet Minister, but I am happy that a Minister of State has been given these duties. It is a welcome move.
The second thing I spoke strongly about in this House was the need for extended maternity leave. I thirdly asked for funding for parents, whether they are at home or in the workplace, to be increased. It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that all those things have been done. I welcome the progress that has been made.
I feel equally strongly about two further issues. It is a mistake not to provide for paid paternity leave and extended parental leave. The fourth thing I asked for was that parents should benefit from some form of support when they are on parental leave. I ask the Minister of State to look closely at the fifth thing I asked for. We need to have trust and confidence in the safety of the system. When parents leave their children in supervision, they should have confidence in the facility in question, regardless of whether it is located in a school, a playschool or a pre-school or whether it is provided by a community group or a group of parents. We owe it to parents to give them such confidence.
As a priority I ask the Minister of State to find a way of co-ordinating qualifications. A person may be a teacher, a classroom assistant, a community worker or a person may have a child care qualification. However, there should be a clear vetting arrangement so that people would know the level of qualification. They do not all have to be the same. The whole question of choice is crucial in this area. People should be able to make the choice whether they want to send their child to a pre-school, a school, play-school, community group or whatever. All those choices should be available and they should not be in competition with each other. I ask the Minister of State to ensure the vetting of qualifications.
I disagree with the idea that these places can ever be self-sustaining and pay for themselves. That will not happen. It will take more money.
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Seanad debates are available in full on the Oireachtas Website
Each speech listed here is an edited speech. If you'd like to see the speech or debate in full, please go to the Oireachtas website and click on "Seanad Eireann" and then "Seanad Debates" and click on the relevant date as listed with each speech on this page.
Community Childcare Subvention Scheme (07/11/07)
Childcare Investment (01/02/06)
Community Childcare Subvention Scheme
07/11/07 - It is not a question of what is in the Minister of State’s proposal, but of what is missing from it (the Scheme). That is where the problem lies. There is an economic strategy to attract people into the workplace. While I do not want to sound sexist about this, in general, this strategy currently refers to attracting women into the workplace for their economic contribution to the GDP and GNP of this State. That is what needs to happen but whether we like it or not, the issue of child care is very much a women’s issue. The cost of it is shared but in the main, although not exclusively, the responsibility for it falls on women’s shoulders. If men were more reliant on child care much more would have been done in the meantime.
What can be done and what is not in the Minister of State’s proposal? The Minister of State is technically right in stating it is not means tested but based on other figures including the family income supplement. The real issue, however, is that people just above the threshold will feel they are going to be hit once more.
There is a simple way to deal with those who do not reach the threshold to which the Minister of State referred. If the State recognised the cost they are paying for child care, the obvious thing is to grant them tax relief on that expenditure. That would create a level playing pitch and would mean that persons going out to work would not be discommoded as much, although they would still face unacceptable costs.
We are currently losing a major creative input for the economy because large numbers of women in particular do not have this opportunity. The Department of Finance will say there is always somebody above the threshold, but we are penalising people for going out to work. ….. In my last employment, I lost three superb workers due to the cost of child care. They were not in low-paid employment but they could not afford the costs involved. The Department of Finance does not recognise that there is a loss to the State in this. It looks at the penny-pinching aspects of giving money here or there, but we are all losing as a result.
To move forward from the Minister of State’s points, while recognising what he has done, people above that threshold should be at least permitted a tax break. I will give the Minister of State an argument to use with the Department of Finance in the Estimates debate. Given that we are losing the creative and financial input of such people who cannot afford to go to work because of child care costs, what does it cost the State? We are all losers as a result.
Back to top of the page
Childcare Investment
01/02/06 - I have spoken in the House about child care on three or four occasions over the past year. On the first two or three occasions, I called for five things to be delivered on. First, I asked for overall responsibility for the entire child care sector to be given to a single Cabinet Minister, but I am happy that a Minister of State has been given these duties. It is a welcome move.
The second thing I spoke strongly about in this House was the need for extended maternity leave. I thirdly asked for funding for parents, whether they are at home or in the workplace, to be increased. It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that all those things have been done. I welcome the progress that has been made.
I feel equally strongly about two further issues. It is a mistake not to provide for paid paternity leave and extended parental leave. The fourth thing I asked for was that parents should benefit from some form of support when they are on parental leave. I ask the Minister of State to look closely at the fifth thing I asked for. We need to have trust and confidence in the safety of the system. When parents leave their children in supervision, they should have confidence in the facility in question, regardless of whether it is located in a school, a playschool or a pre-school or whether it is provided by a community group or a group of parents. We owe it to parents to give them such confidence.
As a priority I ask the Minister of State to find a way of co-ordinating qualifications. A person may be a teacher, a classroom assistant, a community worker or a person may have a child care qualification. However, there should be a clear vetting arrangement so that people would know the level of qualification. They do not all have to be the same. The whole question of choice is crucial in this area. People should be able to make the choice whether they want to send their child to a pre-school, a school, play-school, community group or whatever. All those choices should be available and they should not be in competition with each other. I ask the Minister of State to ensure the vetting of qualifications.
I disagree with the idea that these places can ever be self-sustaining and pay for themselves. That will not happen. It will take more money.
Back to top of the page
Seanad debates are available in full on the Oireachtas Website