My Budget: Lack of relief on childcare leaves family on ‘road to nowhere’

Bob Quinn and his wife Steph have two young children and the pair estimate they will have spent €100,000 in creche fees by the time their youngest starts primary school.

Last week their six-month old Abigail joined Teddy, who is nearly 4-years-old, in the creche, near the family home in Naas, Co Kildare.

The couple pay €1,700 a month in creche fees, which Bob says is “like paying a second mortgage.” Bob runs his own financial planning business, and his wife returned to work as a data protection officer in Bord na Móna on Monday.

Looking ahead to Budget 2020 on Tuesday, the couple are not hopeful of any meaningful relief from "exorbitant" childcare fees, Bob says.

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“The two of us want to work, we’re in our late 30s, we have spent years training, educating ourselves … We don’t want to walk away from the day job,” he says.

The high creche fees are having a knock-on effect on the couple’s savings in other areas, like planning for retirement and their pensions, he said.

Unlike some parents, the couple do not have the option of relying on grandparents to help with childminding.

“The closest family we have is 100 miles away, so the granny down the road is not an option for us,” Bob says.

The problem with previous Government childcare subsidies was the relief was quickly eaten up by creches increasing fees, in some cases just weeks after subsidies came into effect, Bob says. There needed to be “safeguards” to ensure any further subsidies were not cancelled out by providers raising fees, he said.

The Government should look at alternative measures for the savings to come straight to parents, such as tax relief, or an income tax allowance for parents with children in creches, he said.

With the couple both driving diesel cars, Bob said they fear they will suffer from mooted increases in carbon taxes.

“We are going to be worse off from tomorrow’s Budget, irrespective of any kite flying on savings … It feels like we’re on a road to nowhere” he said.