GREENS LASH OUT AT PROPOSAL: ‘JUST GIVE SUBSIDIES TO PARENTS WHO STAY IN THE HOME’

PARENTS who stay at home to mind their children should be paid by the State, the Green Party said yesterday – while taking aim at the Independent Alliance’s ‘granny grant’ proposal.

The Greens called on the Government to pay childcare subsidies to stay-at-home parents – in a proposal similar to the system employed in Finland.

It comes after the Independent Alliance said on Tuesday that grandparents who help mind their grandchildren should be paid a ‘granny grant’ of up to €1,000 a year.

Pauline O’Reilly, the Greens’ spokeswoman on Children and Youth Affairs, yesterday insisted parents were best placed to decide on their childcare options and called for a dig-out for stay-at-home parents.

Ms O’Reilly, speaking to the Irish Daily Mail, said: ‘There are families struggling financially so a parent can stay at home to care for children, and they should be entitled to a subsidy to help them do so. Families where a parent stays at home forgo a salary and should be entitled to financial support.’

Ms O’Reilly said there are families who choose to have a stay-at-home parent ‘as by the time they pay for childcare, their take-home pay is not very significant’. ‘When they weigh that up against spending time with their child, they would rather be at home,’ she added.

Ms O’Reilly, who is also a member of the Stay-At-Home Parents’ Association, said parents want flexibility when it comes to caring for their children, and added: ‘Many use grandparents as childminders, but likewise many young families have a parent staying at home to care for children.

‘Whether a family pay for crèches, pay childminders or forgo a salary themselves to stay at home, it all costs money. Why is the Government not recognising all forms of childcare?’

As many as 70% of families have a parent caring for children at home, according to the Central Statistics Office.

Ms O’Reilly said the Green Party would approve of a system similar to that in Finland, where crèches are subsidised directly – but for the remaining families who have a stay-athome parent, or choose a childminder or grandparent to look after their children, the subsidy goes directly to the parents.

She said: ‘The proposal to pay grandparents childcare is pitting

‘Pitted against each other’

families against each other. Some families are not lucky enough to have the support of grandparents as they have sadly passed away, they can’t afford to live in the same area as them or they are not even in the same country.

‘It would make no sense that grandparents who are minding children get a subsidy and a stay-at-home parent is getting nothing. A subsidy should be paid directly to the parents.’

Pauline O’Reilly – Page 14