Breda O’Brien writes for The Irish Times: New Government but same line on childcare

It is the triump of ideology over what parents want, which is to look after children at home

Read quickly, the draft partnership programme for government appears to signal a shift in childcare policy. After all, promising “targeted supports to reduce childcare costs, broaden parental choice and increase supports for stay-at-home parents” sounds good, doesn’t it?

One would imagine that broadening parental choice would mean corralling parents neither into full-time day care for their children nor at-home care but rather giving them a choice between the two.

Unfortunately, it means no such thing. Instead, it means continuing policies, in place for nearly two decades, that prioritise paid work outside the home over caring work.

Take, for example, the disincentives for two-parent families where one wishes to stay at home, introduced in Charlie McCreevy’s budget in 2000. The policy of tax individualisation means that in households with equivalent income, above a certain limit the single-income household pays far more tax than where both people are working outside the home.

At that time, Joan Burton described it as unjust, stating that it was no wonder that single-income families felt that the State had it in for them.

Read the article on The Irish Times Website here