Taoiseach acknowledges childcare scheme ‘no good’ for many health workers

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said Government plans to help with childcare for some frontline workers will be rolled out from next week, but he acknowledged the limited scheme is “no good” for many healthcare workers.

Under the Government plan, partners of healthcare workers can avail of paid leave if they work in the public sector.

Those who are lone parents or whose partners do not work in the public sector may have to wait until May 5th or beyond for support.

Speaking on Friday, Mr Varadkar said the Department of Public Expenditure is working on a circular in relation to the scheme for paid leave, adding “we would expect that to be done from next week”.

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He said for households “where both are public servants, one works in healthcare and the other does not, between flexibility and rostering and also paid leave it should be possible to ease the burden on them but I totally understand how inadequate that is.

“That is no good to anyone who is at the head of a lone-parent family, no good to a family of two healthcare workers or where one person works in the private sector.”

He said the Government wanted to provide funding to send childminders into the homes of those workers outside the scheme “but having taken the advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) and the chief medical officer, they are not comfortable with us doing that at the moment because it does mean mixing households”.

He said a childminder could potentially bring the virus into the home of the healthcare worker who could then bring it into a healthcare setting.

“So if that is implemented it won’t be implemented now but it could be implemented as part of the first phase of the easing of restrictions, if we are able to do that after May 5th.”

Minister for Children Katherine Zappone said her department will be ready to implement the measure should public health clearance be granted. “The proposals are pretty much there. We will be asking the childcare providers if they are willing to step up to the plate and participate in a voluntary capacity,” Ms Zappone said, adding that many providers were willing to do this.

The childcare plans for frontline workers have been sharply criticised by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), which said the proposals would “do nothing for the vast majority of nurses and midwives”.