Sinn Féin has pledged to bring childcare costs down to €10-a-day from next year but has stopped short of promising to bring in free childcare by the end of the next Government’s term.
Party leader Mary Lou McDonald launched the proposals saying childcare costs have been “an extraordinary burden on parents” for far too long.
She said: “Childcare costs are often described as the equivalent of a second mortgage” and said “It’s not fair and it’s not sustainable”.
If it is in government after the general election, Sinn Féin is promising that parents will pay €10-a-day per-child attending “centre-based” childcare like a creche from September 2025 at a cost of €345 million to the State.
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The scheme would also cover Tusla-registered childminders from next year.
The party says extending the subsidy to other childminders will take longer “because criteria for inclusion and registration will take time”.
Their inclusion would see between 90,000 and 100,000 more children covered in the scheme by the end of a term in government.
Sinn Féin says parents will go from paying €800 per month to €200 per month.
The centrepiece of the childcare measures brought in by the current Coalition has been cutting childcare fees by an average of 50 per cent, with the most recent cut kicking in this month.
Sinn Féin’s spokeswoman on children Claire Kerrane said this has been “irrelevant” as parents have still faced high costs and her party’s €10-a-day proposal is “far better” than the current situation.
In its 2020 manifesto Sinn Féin promised a 66 per cent cut in fees in its first term in governmnent and the document said: “Our vision for the decade is to deliver childcare as a public service free at the point of use”.
Asked if it is still Sinn Féin’s vision to bring in free childcare by 2030, Ms McDonald said: “We’re starting with this proposal, €10-a-day per child.”
She also said: “clearly, to ensure that every child has their equal opportunity, the way that you get to that ultimately, is free at the point of delivery”.
However, she said “there’s a lot of talking and consultation to be done” and the party’s €10-a-day proposal “represents a very, very significant step”.
Asked if Sinn Féin’s manifesto for the upcoming election would commit to introducing free childcare by the end of the term of government, Sinn Féin’s finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said: “This [€10-a-day childcare] is the commitment in relation to the term of government. You referenced the manifesto previously, which was, I believe, over two terms in government”.
Ms McDonald said: “We haven’t been in government.”
Sinn Féin also plans to increase childcare workers’ pay by €1.50 per hour in its first year in government to ease the recruitment and retention “crisis” in the sector and as part of a range of measures aimed at increasing childcare capacity.
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