‘Crippling cost of childcare in Donegal equivalent to another mortgage’ - Doherty

Childcare costs in Donegal are “the equivalent of taking out another mortgage,” it has been claimed.

Donegal TD and Sinn Féin Spokesperson on Finance, Deputy Pearse Doherty, has called for urgent action to be taken by the government regarding the lack of childcare places in the county.

"For so many parents the cost of childcare is crippling, especially as the cost-of-living crisis continues to spiral out of control,” Teachta Doherty said. “For most, it is equivalent to taking out another mortgage. 

"Increasingly, even getting a place for your child in a creche or with a childminder is also becoming a huge issue for parents and my office has recently been inundated with calls from desperate parents looking for a place for their child in a childcare facility in Donegal. 

"When I raised this issue with the government, they refer to data that is a year out of date to argue that there isn't a problem. Parents will tell you directly that in the childcare facilities in Donegal that they've contacted, there aren't just a few children ahead of them on the waiting lists, but 30 or 40. 

"The situation has clearly gotten completely out of control and significant intervention is now needed if we are to prevent desperate parents having to take drastic measures such as giving up jobs and careers to look after their children. It's time the government got serious about this issue.

"Many promises were made during the election regarding urgently addressing this issue and none of them have been kept.  One such promise was reducing childcare costs to €200 a month. 

"In a response to me, the government has confirmed that they still don't even have a timeline for the implementation of this. The government have also repeatedly been unable to give any detail on their commitment in the Programme for Government to commence a broad consultation and a detailed action plan to deliver affordable and accessible childcare.

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"The Tanaiste said we’d see the action plan within 100 days of government – we haven’t even seen the consultation. These were empty words and none of this is good enough".