According to the Sunday Independent, the Government wants more mothers to return to work amid fears there will be a shortage of workers in certain industries.
A senior source from the Department of Finance told the newspaper: "We are coming close to full employment, especially in specialist areas. The minister's approach is that we should expand capacity, not accept we are at full capacity."
There are now plans in place to get more professional women back into work after having a baby to increase the labour market.
"It's about looking at people who emigrated or people who have been out of the workforce for 10 or 12 years. You might have women in their early 40s or mid 40s who raised kids for 10 years and now they are looking at reskilling," the source said.
The proposed plan is to include a number of incentives, including:
- Upskilling women who left careers in the financial service, technology and science sectors.
- Cutting childcare costs for working families.
- Expand the apprenticeship system into other areas where there are skill shortages, in the hope that women will sign up.
There are currently around 77,000 women seeking full or part-time employment and a further 464,000 who list their occupation as 'home duties', according to the CSO.
A Department of Children-led interdepartmental group is also looking at increasing paternity leave and allowing couples share paid time off work after childbirth. According to the report, the group in not likely to introduce tax incentives, but they are believed to be considering a second year of free pre-school.
The source added that: "There was a huge effort to support women who wanted to get back into the labour market then, and now 20 years on, you have more women in that situation who are more educated but who may require refresher courses."
