Sir, – With childcare provision support under active review ("Rethink of childcare sector urged by FG report", News, October 4th), a comparison should be made with the Canadian approach to childcare.
The Liberal Party under Justin Trudeau was recently returned to power with a central promise in its manifesto calling for $10 (€6.86) a day childcare nationwide, where this commitment has been acknowledged as one of the core reasons the Liberal Party won the election. A key influence for this policy is drawn from the implementation of universal subsidised childcare costing $8.50 (€5.83) a day in Quebec. The general attitude in Quebec is that childcare provision is treated as critical infrastructure given the effect heavily subsidised care has on facilitating enhanced participation in the workforce, with considerable funding injected on this basis.
The success of the approach in Quebec indicates that we have far to go, especially in support of those on middle incomes, with our very modest universal childcare subsidy of €22.50 per week plus Early Childhood Care and Education Scheme support for 15 hours per week, as far as national investment in childcare is concerned. – Yours, etc,
Cllr JOHN KENNEDY,
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(Fine Gael),
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown
County Council Offices,
Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.