Brady on Child Care - Major Employers must play their part

Statement by Peter Brady, Fine Gael Local Election Candidate, Lucan/Palmerstown/Quarryvale.

“Lack of child care facilities and the cost of the limited facilities which are available is one of the big issues which I’m meeting on the doors” says Peter Brady, Fine Gael Local Election Candidate in Lucan, Palmerstown and Quarryvale.

“For many young couples, the high cost of housing and the high cost of living, which has been exposed by Fine Gael’s web-site www.ripoff.ie, are forcing both parents to work outside the home. The discrimination against single-income families introduced into the tax code by Fianna Fail and the PD’s also contributes to this pressure.

I have also encountered many single parents (usually mothers) who wish to remain in or return to the workforce but find it impossible to do so because of the difficulty of finding affordable child care. Their situation has been made worse by the Government’s decision to slash funding for child care grants for Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS) participants. This is a scheme which directly targets people dependent on one parent family payments. Last year, child care funding for VTOS and certain other second chance education schemes was cut by 37%.

Of course, it is easy for any opposition representative to call on the Government to spend more money on all kinds of desirable projects. But public money is not a bottomless pit. We must look at the responsibilities of other parties also – for instance at major employers. They should be encouraged to establish on-site crèches for working parents. They would gain by facilitating skilled employees to remain in or return to the workforce. Families would also gain because parents and children would be able to see each other at intervals during the day.

It would make sense for the Government to offer tax incentives to major employers to encourage the provision of such on-site child care facilities. This would be a Win-Win-Win-Win situation for everyone; children, parents, employers and Government.”