35% OF MOTHERS TURN DOWN JOBS OVER CHILDCARE

Survey of stay-at-home mothers reveals how many cannot seek a job because they don’t get enough support to mind their children

MORE than a third of mothers who stay at home have had to turn down work because of the cost of childcare, a challenging new survey reveals.

And the researchers found that almost seven out of every ten were prevented from even seeking a job because they could not pay to have their children cared for.

After OECD figures revealed that Irish families pay 34 per cent of their income on childcare – double the European average – Teresa Heeney of Early Childhood Ireland said this is not because costs are higher here but because ‘Irish parents have to pay the total cost’.

And Laura Haugh of MummyPages.ie, which held the latest survey, said: ‘Reports have been coming from OECD for

the last 20 years highlighting the higher cost of childcare and yet here we are, still in crisis.’

The research into the views of 2,418 mothers revealed that there was little difference in the opinions of both working and stay-at-home mothers on the cost of childcare, as 94 per cent of all mothers said it was too expensive.

The latest revelations come after the research arm of the St Vincent de Paul, the Vincentian Partnership, revealed that a single mother now needs to earn €44,000, if she wants to cover the cost of childcare on top of her other household expenses.

However, the average industrial wage is €32,450.

In Dublin it now costs between €1,200 and €1,600 a month, it has emerged.

The MummyPages. i e survey revealed that 35 per cent of mothers had to turn down a job because of the childcare barrier.

It also showed that 68 per cent said that they were prevented from looking for a job, while 33 per cent were stopped from studying or training.

Meanwhile, 43 per cent said that they were restricted in the

‘After 20 years we

are still in crisis’

amount of hours they could work or study.

Ms Heeney, chief executive of Early Childhood Ireland, said: ‘Irish parents are paying 34 per cent of their income in childcare, while the average European family is paying 17 per cent.

‘Irish parents are paying double and t he i mportant point to make i s that i t’s not because childcare in I r eland i s more expensive than anywhere else, it’s that Irish parents have to pay the total cost of it.

‘We’re calling on the Government to introduce direct subvention into services that would then be passed on to parents, as a subsidy of their costs,’ she said.

Ms Haugh, ‘Mum-in-Residence’ at MummyPages.ie said: ‘Recommendations and proposals made by the childcare sector, children’s charities and, most importantly, parents, are compromised by the lack of real investment available from Government funds.

‘Instead what we are offered are small concessions along with the promise of more, which of course never materialises.’

According to the survey, 93 per cent of parents believe the State should provide a subsidy to all schools running after- primaryschool care programmes to make childcare more affordable.

It found that 77 per cent of stayat-home parents would consider returning to work full-time if childcare was cheaper.

Orla O’Connor, director of the National Women’s Council of Ireland said the Government must invest in a publicly subsidised model of childcare and deliver a system of paid l eave ‘ which supports mothers and fathers to combine work and family life’.

She said: ‘The cost of childcare continues to act as a significant barrier to women’s equality in Ireland, impacting on the decisions that women make with regard to when to return to work, whether to work part-time or full time, the type of job to take up after unemployment, when their child will enter school and who cares for their children.’

She said provisions in Ireland are not working to facilitate parents to combine work and family life.

Last night the Department of Children and youth affairs said the Government i s aware of the relatively high cost of childcare here and of the difficulties it causes, particularly where both parents are in employment.

Children’s Minister James Reilly established an inter-departmental group to look at providing childcare for children up to the age of six as well as to consider after-school needs of older children, which is expected to report in June.

The department said that to help address the issue of childcare costs, it provides about €260million every year to support a number of childcare programmes.

It also said that more than 100,000 children benefit from this investment each year.

It added: ‘An online consultation process has taken place which invited submissions from interested parties, i ncluding parents, to inform the work of the InterDepartmental Group.

The department added that the submission from the MummyPages.ie group would be considered in that context.

‘It’s a significant barrier to equality’