For years we felt like we’d been left behind. All that changed yesterday
AFTER years of feeling as if we were always going to be part of the ‘squeezed middle’ – too ‘rich’ to qualify for any financial or meaningful help for anything, and too ‘poor’ to actually have any money in our pockets at the end of the month, I finally feel like yesterday was a good day for people like me.
As a woman in my 30s with three young children; a five-year-old, a three-year-old and an 18-month-old, yesterday’s Budget didn’t make me feel as if our Government doesn’t care about the likes of us. For a change.
I was a student for many of the Celtic Tiger years, too broke to even save the minimum amount during the SSIA scheme.
And when I got a job I never earned enough to qualify for a mortgage during the boom years. People of my generation missed the boat on a lot of the perks on offer then.
And then after it all fell apart and we were left on our knees as a nation, we were also the ones left wondering if anyone would actually get help in any way
But yesterday seemed like a step in the right direction. Albeit a baby step.
The €5 per child increase in child benefit obviously means €15 extra in my pocket every month – or €180 extra per year. It’s not to be sniffed at; it’ll certainly help with school costs or will buy a pair of shoes or two for those constantly growing feet.
ANOTHER t hi ng I’m delighted about is the provision of free childcare for kids between the ages of three and five and a half. At the moment, my son George attends a kindergarten two mornings per week. At €155 per month, it’s about as much as we can manage. And given that he loves it and always asks to go on his days off too, it will make life a lot easier for everyone. And that €155 extra in our pockets every month will definitely go to good use when we apply, and hopefully quality, for our mortgage.
They’re also putting €3million into developing after-school services, so given that my eldest, Maisie, started school this year, this will also be of relevance to us too.
Although we have no plans to extend our brood – unless of course that elusive Lotto win materialises, or we decide to go for one last hurrah when my daughter Tessa is finally out of nappies and sleeping through the night – the news that men will finally get two weeks’ paternity leave from September is very welcome. Although it’s no Sweden, where men and women can share their leave – with men getting two months (soon to be three) of paid parental leave – it’s certainly better than nothing. And streets ahead of what we have had up to now.
When I had our babies, my other half had to save up holidays and days in lieu to be there to help me with the new baby and, in subsequent pregnancies, help manage the other children.
Holidays and time off are precious enough, and those early days after a new baby arrives can often be far from a holiday.
So although it was always lovely for him to have time off after the birth, we always paid for it later in the work year when he had no time left for an actual break with the family.
Those two weeks of statutory paternity leave will therefore be a huge help for families – from helping mums to get breastfeeding established, to helping dads bond with the baby without the pressures of work.
Yesterday, also brought the news that the Government’s increasing free GP care from the under-6s to the under-12s, pending negotiations with doctors of course. So there’s a catch, but hopefully it will come to fruition.
When the free GP care for younger children was brought in earlier this year, no doctor in my area signed up for it for the first few weeks. Now the majority of them have. Hopefully this will be the case with the new plan too, because I’m told that bouts of sniffles and vomiting bugs last beyond junior infants.
These little things, coupled with the fact that the Government has finally decided to reduce the Universal Social Charge slightly, means that – for me and my family – this is hopefully the beginning of having some spare cash in our pockets for the first time in years.