Financially penalised for having children

Sir, – We have some of the most expensive childcare in the EU, for those lucky enough to be able to find a space. Childcare cost on average 20 per cent of a family’s disposable income in 2020. There are significant issues with supply in many areas, and this combined with a lack of housing affordability and security weigh heavily on the decision of young people to have children.

Many other European countries have invested for years to make having children more economically viable. However, in Ireland median-income earning families in particular are still heavily penalised financially for having children. Perhaps this large windfall is therefore the time for the Government to move away from its subsidy-based approach to childcare and start putting in place supply-side solutions so that young people who want to have children will know that they have secure, high-quality, long-term, cheap, and flexible childcare available when and where they need it. – Yours, etc,

KEIRE MURPHY,

Inchicore,

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Dublin 8.