In one of his final acts before his period in office expires next week, the EU Social Affairs Commissioner, Mr Padraig Flynn, performed a singular service yesterday by again highlighting the dearth of adequate childcare facilities in this State. Responding to a new European Commission report, which found that the provision of childcare in the Republic continues to lag behind other member-states, Mr Flynn said the Commission would be looking for evidence of a new strategy by the Government which would allow greater participation by women in the workplace. In truth, the citizens of this State have been waiting for a quarter of a century and more for the kind of childcare service that other Europeans take for granted. Parents, childminders and, indeed, creche owners have made the case for change to no avail. The continued absence of proper facilities prevents tens of thousands of women from joining the labour market; those who do opt to work are asked to muddle through with a largely unregulated and expensive childcare service. Where facilities do exist, they are often too expensive for those who need them; the cost for one child accounts for about 20 per cent of the average income in this State, compared to an EU average of just eight per cent, as Ms Joan Carmichael, of the ICTU, pointed out on RTE radio yesterday.
In the past year, the issue has managed to push its way up the political agenda - not least because the lack of a good quality, affordable service has come to be seen as a barrier to continued economic progress. Earlier this year, the report of the Partnership 2000 Expert Working Group on Childcare stopped short of recommending a full-scale State-funded system, opting instead for a system of tax allowances for parents and tax breaks for employers.
The issues, and the various policy options, raised by the report are complex. Would an increase in child benefit - instead of tax breaks - give greater choice to parents? How would the tax relief proposals help those on lower incomes? Would a payment of £10-20 per week for receipted childcare expenses make an appreciable difference? How should the State set about improving the availability of accommodation which might be used to provide suitable facilities? The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, has referred the Partnership 2000 study to an interdepartmental committee which will present its own report shortly. With increasing business and trade union pressure on the issue - and with a view to the forthcoming discussions on a possible successor to Partnership 2000 - it seems certain that some kind of Government initiative will be forthcoming. It is to be hoped that the Government, in the Budget or before it, will move decisively to provide a proper childcare service. Tax relief can be a useful instrument in helping to provide an affordable service. But, at this time of plenty, there is also an onus on the State to take a central role in providing childcare for its citizens.