Childcare suddenly matters as general election looms

Call it a happy coincidence but it’s interesting that the Government has suddenly turned its attention to the crippling cost of childcare as the spectre of the next general election looms large.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has already put his troops on a war footing, despite insisting that his coalition will see out its full term until April 2016. But make no mistake: the election campaign got underway in earnest last October with Michael Noonan’s ‘neutral’ budget, designed to reassure us that the worst is over and we can start to look forward to the good times again. Not Celtic Tiger good, obviously, but good in a way that will leave families with more than €50 in their pockets each month after all the bills are paid.

You could sense an election in the air last week with the Government’s sudden interest in the issue of childcare affordability. It’s no surprise to hard-pressed parents that we’re the most expensive country in Europe when it comes to putting our children into a crèche. It was reported that you needed to earn €30,000 a year just to fund the cost of childcare for two children.

But Government sources revealed that this issue is to be looked at in detail by Cabinet with a list of proposals expected to be agreed before the next budget. There was talk of tax breaks, subsidies and a second year of free pre-school for under-fives. Even the older ‘latch key’ kids would be factored into the plan, with the Government either funding or heavily subsidising after-school study clubs and sports activities.

It all sounds promising. But here’s the catch: any agreed changes would need to be phased in over the course of successive budgets. In other words, the electorate would have to give the FG/Labour coalition another term to allow it deliver the goods.

The Minister for Public Expenditure, Brendan Howlin, was somewhat stating the obvious last week when he was quoted as saying that high childcare costs were impeding women’s progress in the workplace. He confirmed that the matter would be high on the Cabinet’s agenda in the coming term.

Any measures that provide some respite for parents are to be welcomed. But the Government’s belated acceptance of the financial burden placed on working families by exorbitant childcare costs should be seen for what it is. To me, it smacks of cynical opportunism in the run up to a general election in which Fine Gael and Labour candidates will be fighting for their political lives.

Expect more carrots to be dangled before the ‘squeezed’ middle-income earners in the months ahead. We won’t get fooled again - or will we?