Childcare is not a luxury

Published: Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Press Release, 27 March 2013

The National Women's Council of Ireland calls on the government to make a clear a statement that childcare costs will remain outside of the proposed Insolvency Arrangements. Statements made by Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, in relation to the proposed guideline on childcare are extremely anti-women and anti-children and go against all government policies to promote employment and gender equality

Orla O'Connor, Director of the National Women's Council of Ireland said,

'Minister Varadkars comments are contrary to the Taoiseach Enda Kenny's comments that the proposed guidelines are 'quite incredible' and that we need an 'atmosphere for jobs', including for women. Childcare is not a luxury but a necessity. It is unacceptable that the government would punish working families for making difficult financial decisions with regard to combining work and family life, including continuing their employment despite a loss of income due to the high costs of childcare. Families make all kinds of decisions and they are not all about short term maths but about the long term sustainability and well-being of the family.'

She continued,

'We know about the difficulties of interrupted careers in terms of loss of promotion and future earnings. Having only one of the parents work is also extremely precarious in the current economic climate. What if the partner loses their job? Both the EU and the OECD emphasise the importance of maintaining people particularly women in work in order to achieve gender equality but also economic recovery. Ireland already has one of the lowest maternal employment rates. Only 51.5% with children aged between 4 -5 years of age work and the figure is as low as 42 % for women with three children.'

Orla O'Connor concluded,

'We also have to ask ourselves why childcare costs are one of the highest in Europe in Ireland. If we want to support families struggling to pay back their mortgage, we need to invest into quality and affordable childcare that would alleviate some of the financial burden and actually create an incentive for people to stay in or seek employment.'

For more information, please contact Silke Paasche, Communications Officer. National Women's Council of Ireland, Tel. 085 858 9104