Talks aimed at agreeing a package of measures to help parents meet their childcare costs will open today between the social partners and Government officials.
The discussions come amid growing concerns over childcare provision, with figures last week showing that 4,000 childcare places had been lost in the State since new regulations and inspections were introduced in 1996. The discussions are due to be completed in advance of December's Budget.
Today's talks are a resumption of discussions on the childcare issue deferred since February, when the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF) was concluded.
Representatives from trade unions, employers and community and voluntary bodies will meet officials from Government Departments and fix a schedule of meetings.
With weekly creche fees in the State averaging between £100 and £150, the voluntary sector will seek childcare payments for all parents, while trade unions and employers want State support for creches, targeted tax breaks for employers and working parents, and childcare payments for low-income families.
The community and voluntary bodies are seeking a universal, taxable parents' childcare payment of £20 per week for children up to age five, and £10 per week for 6 to 14-year-olds. It has said this is the most equitable way of allowing all parents, regardless of income, to choose quality childcare.
It is also calling for a support scheme for the childcare costs of low-income parents participating in education and training programmes, and for subsidised childcare places for low-income families.
"In the debate on inflation, it is widely recognised that alleviating the costs of childcare for parents would be a significant step in ensuring the survival of the PPF," said Ms Orla O'Connor, spokeswoman for the community and voluntary bodies.
Both trade unions and the employers' body, the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation (IBEC), disagree with a universal childcare payment.
"You can get a lot more bang for your buck by targeting it to people who actually need it through tax allowances or social welfare," said Ms Aileen O'Donoghue, of IBEC.
IBEC wants reliefs to be targeted at people using the formal childcare sector to encourage more providers to come out of the black economy.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) wants an annual tax allowance of £4,000 for the first child up to age five, £3,200 for the second and subsequent child, and £2,000 for any child over five. These are based on the report by the Partnership 2000 Expert Working Group on Childcare which found that demand for childcare is expected to increase by up to 50 per cent by the year 2011.
Ms Rosheen Callender, SIPTU's national equality secretary, calculated that the £4,000 tax allowance at the standard tax rate would amount to savings of £17 per week. She said SIPTU was "determined to get the principle of tax relief into the system."
Parents using formal childcare could produce receipts to claim their tax relief, while other means of tax relief would be provided for those using informal childcare, she said.
Ms Callender said weekly creche fees of up to £150 represented a crisis for a woman on an average industrial wage, with a pre-tax weekly earning of £224.
She said: "Employees are finding they are losing people all over the place, and couples are putting off having children because the cost of childcare plus a mortgage is prohibitive."