‘IT’S NO MORE, OR NO LESS, THAN WE WERE EXPECTING’

A MOTHER of three has said the Budget will help amid inflated grocery and childcare prices, but the measures were ‘no more or less than anyone expected’.

Eleanor Clerkin, from Co. Louth, said the three €150 energy credits are ‘better than nothing’ adding: ‘That’s a one-off. It’s nice, but they don’t help for very long.’

She said: ‘[The Budget] is no more than any one was expected, I don’t think it’s any less either... I don’t think they’ve gone above and beyond. It’ll definitely help us.’

Asked whether the lack of affordable childcare and supports from Government made it difficult for women to return to work, she said: ‘I think so. It’s stressful, too. There’s people who can’t go back who want to go back [to work]. There are stay-at-home dads too and it can be a hard decision to go back to work anyway.’

She said the total cost of childcare for her three children – aged nine, six and four – is a €1,000 a month.

‘We’ve three kids in fulltime childcare, in breakfast club or afterschool, and we’re paying more for that than we are on our mortgage,’ she said.

She said last year’s 25% reduction in fees for people using providers under the National Childcare Scheme did help, and Ms Clerkin welcomed the further 25% reduction announced yesterday, despite the delayed start. She said: ‘It’s unfortunate that the National Childcare Scheme one isn’t until next September... My youngest will be out of preschool by then. You’ve wasted nine months of the year where you could have had it in your pocket... I still will have three of them within the childcare scheme. It is what it is. I don’t understand why they’re waiting so long to implement it.’

Ms Clerkin also welcomed a double payment of the €140 child benefit this winter, calling it ‘a big help.’