Paid parental leave and a €50 weekly payment for parents of toddlers are the key features in the Labour Party's new childcare policy.
The €820 million package would be funded by reversing the 1.25 per cent reduction in employers' PRSI announced in the last Budget. The party has also proposed the once-off borrowing of €300 million to fund the initial costs of childcare infrastructure.
Announcing the plan, Ms Eithne FitzGerald, Labour's childcare spokeswoman, said the party would introduce paid parental leave at the same rate as maternity leave. New mothers are currently paid 70 per cent of earnings, with a weekly ceiling of €232.
The plan would extend the 14-week parental leave entitlement available to each parent by 20 weeks a couple. Including all leave, a mother could have total paid leave of up to a year, or, alternatively, the new 20-week leave could be shared by the father.
The Labour Party has also promised a legal right to a three-year career break for each child. Under its plan, parents would receive a non-means-tested €50 a week payment for children under three years old. A once-off investment of €300 million in childcare infrastructure would be made as well as a yearly allocation of €60 million for registered childcare and after-school youth programmes.
Other proposals include:
• Free pre-school places for every child.
• A pre-school playgroup in every primary school.
• Tax breaks to encourage childminders to come out of the black economy. • The first €7,600 in childcare income would be exempt from tax.
• Childcare places to be a condition of planning permission for businesses.
• Subsidies to attract and retain quality staff.
