The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) has called for a national care initiative for the "closer alignment" of family care and workplace policy.
In a report - Caring For The Future...Who Cares?- published today, Ictu says that €3.4 billion will have to be spent over the next five years to address the issue of caring for children, the elderly and the disabled.
It states that transformation of the fragmented approach to care provision is needed in order to pursue a broader strategic framework as many aspects of the broader strategy would be common to all care areas.
The report states there is a need for the development of a multi-annual investment programme to provide for 100,000 additional childcare places in the next three years. It calls for specific provision for workplace crèche facilities and after school care provision including the maintenance of the existing 100,000 places.
Congress would also like to see waiting lists for day care respite and residential care for those with disabilities being halved by 2011 and to be eliminated by 2015.
On the issue of caring for the elderly the report calls for 600 additional day beds and 1,370 additional rehabilitation beds. It also says that 800 public long-stay beds and 850 public/private long stay beds each year for the next seven years are needed.