Childcare is expected to dominate next week's annual gathering of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party in Cavan.
Politicians of all parties were confronted with childcare as a major issue for young couples, while canvassing earlier this year in the Meath and Kildare North byelections.
Fianna Fáil sources believe the Cavan think-in could pave the way for significant concessions in the December Budget. Psychologist Maureen Gaffney will speak on the issue.
"It is a major and expensive problem, particularly for those couples living in sprawling urban estates," said a Fianna Fáil source. "All parties will use the issue at the next election to secure their votes."
Senator Mary White, who has produced a report on the issue, will be asking Fianna Fáil Ministers to consider the introduction of tax credits for childcare costs, the establishment of a State body to oversee the implementation of policy, as well as an increase of 12,000 in the number of childcare places.
"Imaginative measures such as the provision of childcare in schools, and the introduction of flexible work hours for parents, all deserve immediate consideration," Ms White said yesterday.
The gathering will see Taoiseach Bertie Ahern attempting to calm backbench nerves in the face of downturn in the Government's fortunes, despite an attempt to create a more socially caring image at last year's gathering in west Cork.
"The Government blew it with a succession of own goals and bad judgement after portraying ourselves as more in touch with people when Fr Seán Healy of Cori addressed us last year," said a backbencher yesterday.
"There is a feeling, too, that Bertie blew the reshuffle, and now backbenchers like myself have nothing to look forward to but nursing the constituency to retain the Dáil seat."
The two-day event, on Monday and Tuesday, will hear a range of speakers including Robert Putnam, professor of public policy at Harvard University and author of Bowling Alone, which deals with the decline of community values in the US.
