At a recent conference on childcare, I listened to the paper on the French experience with a sinking heart. The renowned French childcare policy combines a well-established early childhood educational system, a policy of investment in and equipment of childcare services that has spanned three decades, and family allowance funds and childcare allowances for working parents with children under six years of age.
We then heard that, as recently as 1999, with a growing demand for childcare arrangements, the Ministry of Family Affairs decided to increase substantially the number of places in creches and a three-year investment programme is under way.
It may be a naive comparison but it is interesting to note that for a €228 million investment, 40,000 places are due to be created in the three-year programme.
By comparison, of the €130 million allocated in the Republic to date under the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme (2000-2006) of the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform, only 15,000 new places have been supported (although 18,000 existing places have also received some support). By the French ratio, 22,400 places should have been created by this stage of the National Development Plan (NDP).
There can be no doubt that developing a comprehensive, affordable and high-quality childcare system in the Republic will require a combination of initiatives. IBEC has always considered that increasing the supply of quality, affordable childcare is the core issue to be addressed.
Speaking personally, in the area in which we live, I am not aware of any new childcare facilities in the past four years and I know of a number that have closed or that no longer take small babies. While we have been fortunate to have our children in a very good creche, there are no after-school facilities that I have been able to find and I am sure that this experience is replicated in many other areas.
It is clear when you analyse the French experience - or the system in many other EU countries - that a comprehensive childcare system has been the outcome of decades of investment and commitment by successive governments. In the Republic, as in many other aspects of infrastructure, we are faced with the challenging task of achieving an equivalent infrastructure in a much shorter period of time.
Looking back over recent years, some steps have been taken to address the childcare crisis, including:
a substantial investment programme under the NDP and other funds, amounting to more than €435 million;
the establishment of county childcare committees;
the introduction of tax allowances and reliefs for operators; and
the decision by IDA Ireland to facilitate creches in six of its strategic business parks.
What has been missing is a sense of urgency in dealing with childcare and also a lack of joined-up thinking on the issues that need to be addressed. I believe that if the following steps were taken before the end of the year, we would see considerable progress within three years.
Accelerate the opening of additional public service creches that were promised at least two budgets ago.
Review tax allowances for childcare facilities with a view to improving levels of uptake and encouraging more investment in childcare facilities. The current ceiling on capital grants of €50,790 is inadequate in the context of larger childcare facilities. With a purpose-built large creche costing in excess of €1 million, the current grants are not an incentive in this part of the market.
n Undertake an immediate review of the benefit-in-kind exemption for employer-provided childcare. As far as IBEC can establish, this provision has not been availed of due to unworkable requirements.
n Get the working group on school-age childcare to come up with a targeted, costed plan by October.
n Retain the national childcare and county childcare committees but review the terms of reference, size and resources.
n Establish a small working group to undertake a cost/benefit analysis of the various ways of dealing with affordability - including tax-free allowances, child benefit and a capitation-style grant for pre-school.
Introduce tax relief on childminders' income up to a certain threshold to bring such activity into the formal economy and set up a support structure for minders.
There are other issues that will have to be addressed by other Departments, including ongoing difficulties in securing planning for childcare facilities and the current review of childcare regulations, which needs to strike a balance between sensible infrastructure requirements and the developmental needs of children.
Going back to the French experience, it was interesting that the French Ministry of Family Affairs had to respond to growing pressure for better childcare arrangements from the women's movement and some family associations.
Although childcare was apparently identified on the doorsteps in the recent Irish election campaign, it never translated into one of the big issues and yet it is a disaster zone for so many Irish families.
Working parents are exhausted by commuting, coming up with contingency plans for sick children or schools that close with no notice for in-service days, and trying to co-ordinate arrangements for children who may be at different stages (for example, pre-school and school-going).
Equally they are simply so preoccupied with hoping the fragile arrangements that they have managed to piece together don't collapse leaving them in a crisis that they simply don't have the energy to organise themselves into an effective lobby group.
C'est la vie, Irish style.
Jackie Harrison is director of social policy at IBEC
