Almost two-thirds of the Irish public believe parents should be financially supported to stay at home for their child’s first year, a new survey has found.
On Monday, Early Childhood Ireland published its seventh annual Barometer – based on a national opinion poll conducted by Red C polling company – which showed widespread support for access to early years and school-age care for all children.
The survey revealed 67 per cent of respondents believe education for children under five is as important as for those over five, while almost three-quarters think that early years education should be freely available to all children.
More than half of those surveyed (53 per cent) think the Government should pay the wages of creche staff, while 76 per cent of the Irish public agree that every child should be guaranteed access to high-quality, inclusive early years and school-age care in their own community.
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Almost two-thirds (62 per cent) said parents should be financially supported to stay at home for their child’s first year, while more than half (54 per cent) think that employers should be legally obliged to top up new parents’ maternity and paternity benefits.
A total of 1,003 adults were interviewed online between January 19th and 25th, in a nationally representative sample.
Frances Byrne, director of policy at Early Childhood Ireland, said the “overwhelming public support” for the early years sector “puts an onus on the current and on any future government to prioritise this vital area of children’s lives”.
“Three-quarters of the population also favour the free provision of early years education for all children. One way to achieve this would be to move to a fully publicly funded model of early years and school-age care and bring us in line with the best-in-class systems available in other countries,” she said.
“We need significantly increased investment and a coherent five-year plan to create a unified, publicly funded model ... that incentivises the recruitment and retention of a graduate workforce, is affordable and accessible for parents and – crucially – places children’s rights at its core.”
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