With Finance Minister, Michael Noonan, and Public Expenditure Minister, Brendan Howlin, due to announce the various measures which will comprise the Coalition's 'family-friendly' budget for 2016, thousands of parents are waiting with bated breath to see whether the Government will deliver on their promises.
In the lead-up to the Budget, families across Ireland were assured that their concerns and requirements would take precedence, with a senior government source insisting: “It's all about benefits for families - that's what the theme of the Budget will be.”
From the issue of childcare costs to the matter of early education, 98% of the 2,533 mums surveyed by MummyPages in the run-up to today's announcements have insisted that they were wholly dissatisfied with past and present Government officials who have made numerous 'empty promises' to remedy these issues.
With 84% of working parents struggling to budget for their childcare costs, 99% under the impression that the issue of costly private childcare is used as a political tactic by governments when looking for votes and 96% insisting that the government need to invest in before and after-school enrichment and care facilities within existing school grounds, today's announcements will indicate whether the concerns of families across Ireland have been heard.
Commenting on these staggering figures, Mum-in-Residence for MummyPages, Laura Haugh said: “It’s no wonder parents in Ireland are losing faith in the governments’ effort to tackle the childcare crisis. Ireland has been experiencing a childcare crisis for almost two decades now yet there is still no real-time solution in sight.”
“The proposals announcement by a government Inter-Departmental group this summer to solve Ireland’s childcare crisis over a 10-year period is viewed by many as just another pre-election tactic.”
Outlining her feelings on the matter, Teresa Heeney, CEO of Early Childhood Ireland, highlights the importance of making good on previously made promises, saying: “The delivery of benefits for parents and for early childhood educators must be intertwined in this budget.”
Speaking on behalf of the 100,000 families the organisation supports nationwide, Teresa continued: “For parents, a good result means delivering good quality childcare for their children, and that includes children with additional needs, and for early childhood educators it means ensuring that the capitation they are paid by the State is sufficient to retain good quality staff and to pay themselves and their staff a decent salary.”
“We remain cautiously optimistic that Budget 2016 is the start of that 10 year investment plan for a quality, affordable and accessible early childhood care and education system that works for everyone, the parents, the early childhood educators but especially for the children at the centre of it,” she asserted ahead of this afternoon's highly anticipated announcements.
