Siptu conference: Affordable and accessible childcare should be a "top priority" for unions in any talks with the social partners on a new national agreement, delegates to the Siptu biennial conference decided yesterday.
Measures including increased time off, more flexible working arrangements and tax relief on childcare costs were called for in a conference motion demanding "urgent" Government action on the issue.
Childcare is one of the biggest issues to come before the conference, which continues at the City Hall in Cork until tomorrow. Only one other subject, employment standards, attracted more motions from Siptu branches.
Rose O'Reilly, chairwoman of Siptu's national women's committee, said people were having to pay "outrageous" sums for childcare arrangements, in some cases as high as €180 to €200 a week. The stress involved was affecting the health of many workers.
Waterford branch president Tony Cunningham called on the union to adopt a revised childcare strategy which focused primarily on the needs of children.
Creches should not just be for child-minding, he said, but should be places which foster children's education and development. "Throwing money at creches alone will not solve the childcare problem unless it is spent wisely."
He said the union should initiate a campaign to secure better and more affordable childcare. "If it is a campaign that has to be taken to the streets, then so be it."
Marnie Holborow of the education branch opposed the motion on the grounds that unions should not be looking for tax-relief measures to make childcare more affordable. Instead, the provision of adequate childcare should be fully publicly funded.
Gerry McCormack, national industrial secretary, replied that tax relief was just one of a range of measures being sought, including increased maternity and parental leave and more flexible working arrangements so that parents could spend more time with their children. The motion was passed overwhelmingly.
Anger was also expressed by delegates at the Government's failure to date to extend cancer-screening services, such as Breastcheck, to all areas of the State.
Mary Ann Burke of the retired members' branch claimed cervical cancer rates in the Republic could be cut by 80 per cent through the introduction of a nationwide screening programme.
People were "dismayed", she said, when a pilot programme established in Limerick, Clare and north Tipperary was limited to those aged under 65. This was "blatant ageism".
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a national mobile screening unit had been operated for the detection of TB, she said. "It saved many lives; I know, I was one of them."
Delegates also passed a motion calling on the union to lobby the Government to introduce legislation addressing the "poor employment standards and questionable care practices" in the private nursing home sector. Following what the motion referred to as the "scandal of illegally imposed charges for nursing-home care", it said new legislation should also "clearly and unambiguously" define the rights and entitlements of nursing home patients.
Defending employment rights, decentralisation, pay, taxation and pensions are among the issues due to be debated at the conference today.