“In order to afford it, you would nearly need to take out a second mortgage,” said Ciara Farrell, from Bluebell, Dublin, on the rising costs of childcare in Ireland.
Ms Farrell, who has two children, aged eight and 10, told The Irish Times that due to the cost of childcare, she relies on her parents to look after her children while she is at work.
“My two kids are not old enough to be left alone. They need someone to collect them from school and mind them until I’m in from work. One of my friends is paying €1,400 after receiving the National Childcare Scheme grant to have her children minded, which is mad money.
“My mother and father are a massive help. They mind the kids for me because of the crazy prices of childcare here. It just wouldn’t be worthwhile for me to have them in childcare while I’m working. I couldn’t afford it,” said Ms Farrell.
“I had them in a creche when they were younger but it just made more sense to take them out and have my parents mind them, but it is starting to take its toll on them now too,” she added.
Speaking of the challenges of relying on grandparents to provide childcare, the mother of two said, “It puts them under huge pressure. They are nearly 70 now so they are pushing on and it’s a big commitment on their behalf to be minding them every day and needing to be around all the time to collect them and mind them.”
Ms Farrell added that despite relying on relatives to provide free childcare, she is lucky to be working in a school with somewhat favourable working hours.
“If I worked the same hours as my husband until 6pm, I don’t know what we’d do. I’d be nearly better off not working and minding them myself, so I’m fortunate in that I only need to ask my parents for a couple of hours.”
With Taoiseach Leo Varadkar earlier this summer saying he didn’t foresee the huge budgetary concessions on the cost of childcare which had been proposed by the Green Party becoming a reality, Ms Farrell says something must be done to help struggling parents.
“It would be great if there was some kind of after-school alternative for kids, somewhere you could leave the kids for a couple of hours that wasn’t insanely priced,” she said.
“I couldn’t afford to have them in full-time care if they were too young for school. There are other mothers I know who have had to go job sharing so that they only have to pay for childcare half the time. I’m not sure what the answer is but something needs to be done.”