A Government advisory body has recommended that all children should receive a year's free childcare before they go to primary school, at a cost to the State of €136 million a year.
It is one of the main recommendations of the National Economic and Social Forum's (NESF) report on childcare, which advocates the adoption of a 10-year strategy to develop early childhood care and education services. The report's recommendations will feed into Government plans to improve access to childcare as part of a package expected to be announced on Budget day in December.
Responding to the report's findings, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday said they would provide a "welcome input" into policy development in the future.
The report says the benefits of investing in high-quality pre-school services include better educational outcomes for children and a return to the State of more than €7 for each €1 spent.
While the forum says the package of recommendations would represent a radical move on childcare, the report is not as ambitious as the National Women's Council which says all families should be entitled to have at least half of their childcare costs met by the State.
The forum report says evidence regarding the effectiveness of quality early childhood education programmes are convincing, especially for children from disadvantaged areas. Many EU countries already provide free universal access to pre-school services for children aged three to six.
It places particular emphasis on the quality of services, and recommends that minimum standards for staff should be agreed and a single accrediting body be established.
With the exception of a limited number of childcare places, parents in Ireland pay for childcare from their own private means in an open childcare market.
The forum says there are a number of reasons the Government should intervene in the provision of early childhood care and education. These include the need to ensure there is equal access to services across the State, which it says can be done more effectively through State intervention.
The report also recommends changes to maternity leave, which should be increased by two weeks per year over the next five years. This would ultimately result in women being entitled to 26 weeks of paid maternity leave. It also recommends extending parental leave.