Childcare costs could be cut this year, says Taoiseach

Parents could see cuts in the cost of childcare before the end of the year, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said on Monday.

He also reiterated that there are unlikely to be additional measures to alleviate cost-of-living pressures before the budget.

Mr Martin said the next budget would focus on cost-of-living and the aim was for families to feel the benefit of measures to cut childcare costs by the end of the year.

Speaking ahead of Monday’s National Economic Dialogue, Mr Martin said the intention was to use the budget to ease pressure on people in ways that will be “applicable this year”.

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Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman has previously said he intends to seek investment in the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) as part of Budget 2023 to “substantially reduce childcare fees for all parents.”

Mr Martin said childcare was a “very significant cost pressure on families and we’re going to look at that.”

The Taoiseach said Monday’s dialogue was taking place “at a time of significant challenge facing Ireland, Europe and indeed the world.”

He referenced the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine as well as inflation which – at near 40 year highs - he described as “very serious”.

Mr Martin said the positive news was how the Irish economy had recovered from the pandemic.

Playing down the prospect of an early intervention or mini-budget to respond to inflation, Mr Martin said “we can’t chase inflation in a simplistic way” and warned the coming winter could be even more challenging.

“We do not want to repeat the mistakes of the 1970s when we had a decade of rampant inflation, which really damaged disposable income and the economy.”

Mr Martin added: “We want to do this in detailed way, evidence-based way, do significant work and look at how we can bring costs down.

“What we do has to be comprehensive, has to be sustainable over a longer period of time than just going from a month to month situation.”

He noted the global economic landscape was uncertain at the moment in part because Russia was seeking to put pressure on Europe’s energy supply.

Mr Martin said: “We’ve got to accept the winter period could be the most significant period of this crisis so far . . . and therefore we’ve got to make sure that we have enough in reserve to deal with that.

“Whatever we do has to be sustainable.”