A €360 million package for working parents to offset the cost of childcare is to be jointly proposed to the Government by unions and employers, writes Chris Dooley, Industry and Employment Correspondent
If approved, the proposals would see parents receive €70 per week towards the cost of placing each child under the age of five in a childcare facility or with a minder.
Half that amount would be paid towards the cost of childcare for those aged between five and 12. However, first-born children would be excluded and couples earning more than €120,000 per annum would be ineligible.
The parents of some 140,000 children would benefit from the package, drawn up by a working party of representatives of the employers' body Ibec and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu).
Final details were agreed this week in time for the two bodies to make a joint submission on the issue to the Government in advance of the budget.
While there is no indication that the Government will approve the package, the fact that it is a joint proposal by employers and unions gives it significant weight.
Announcing the details yesterday, Ictu assistant general secretary Sally Anne Kinahan said the Republic was "probably the worst" of the 15 EU pre-accession states in terms of state support for childcare.
No financial support was provided to parents towards the cost of childcare, while maternity benefit was the minimum allowed by the EU.
Unlike many EU countries, the State did not provide paid parental leave, while parents had no legal right to flexible working arrangements.
She accepted that the €360 million cost of the package agreed with Ibec was prohibitive, but said there was an expectation that the Government would do something major to address the childcare issue in the budget.
Ms Kinahan explained that the €70 payment, to be issued in the form of a voucher, had been set at 40 per cent of the average weekly cost of €170 for every child in childcare. She said parents who make informal childcare arrangements, such as placing them with relatives or neighbours while at work, could benefit from the scheme.
However, all of the childcare providers involved would have to register with the State.
An Ictu spokesman emphasised that the proposal was just one of a range of childcare measures being sought by unions to improve the quality of life of working parents and their children.
Other changes proposed by Ictu in its own right include the introduction of PRSI-based paid parental leave and an increase in maternity benefit.