We welcome the opportunity to come before the committee to discuss the critical issue of child care. The NWCI, along with many NGOs involved in women's and children's rights and child care, welcomes the fact that child care has finally been given priority on the political agenda. The key issue now, or concern for us, is whether the appropriate decisions will be taken that will lead to a long-term sustainable solution for all children and their parents. What is different on this occasion is that there is a significant consensus of views on many of the issues. That is evident from our report and that of the National and Economic Social Forum, which contain many similar recommendations.
We hope that in meeting the committee today we can play our part in encouraging members to adopt a long term strategy which will lead to an effective, high quality child care infrastructure accessible to all parents and one that recognises the choices that parents want to make at different stages in their children's lives.
Unfortunately, child care is not an issue that lends itself to quick fix solutions. We are starting from a base at which we would not choose to be. Support for the care of children in Ireland has in the past been minimal and it was predominantly left up to women to either stay at home to care for the children or to juggle a career with a variety of child care arrangements. The equal opportunities childcare programme was the first real initiative to address the child care issue. What is required now, however, is a more holistic policy capable of tackling all the issues.
From a long consultation process with its members, the NWCI developed its position on child care, which is focused on recognition of care in the home, extensive leave arrangements to create a greater work-life balance and the development of a publicly funded, high quality early childhood care and education system. In 2003 we launched A Woman's Model for Social Welfare Reform which makes extensive recommendations on recognising parenting as a contingency within the social welfare system and on introducing a system of parental support payments which would allow parents to make real choices regarding care in the home and working in the paid labour force. We have been campaigning strongly on the need for these reforms and we urge the committee to consider them in the context of the budget.
In recent weeks we launched our proposals for an accessible model for child care in Ireland. Members have been circulated with copies of the report. The model comes from a children's and a women's rights perspective and is based on strong international evidence. The NWCI believes that early childhood care and education can no longer be left to the market to decide how, what and when child care is delivered. International evidence has clearly shown the benefits of early childhood care and education on children' s development and has shown that leave arrangements need to be as flexible as possible for parents. It is also clear from international evidence that countries which in the past have used tax-based solutions to support parents are now moving away from these measures because of their ineffectiveness to an approach based on providing subsidies to all child care providers.
The NWCI intends the model to increase and promote women's economic independence through a greater sharing of care responsibilities between women and men and through providing choices for women as to how and when they wish to participate in employment and education and training. That is particularly true for women dependent on low incomes.
We are clear that our model is only one part of the child care jigsaw and that there are issues related to quality standards, conditions, the position and status of workers and training that require specific attention. They are not covered by current research. I am sure that many members are already aware of this.
Several significant problems have caused the Irish child care crisis. We have a higher than average proportion of women and children living in poverty. The options for lone parents who cannot afford the full costs of child care are constrained. They often force parents, especially low-income ones, to settle for care of lower quality.
Most EU countries now provide free, universal access to early childhood care and education services for children aged from three and six. In Ireland, there is no such provision. Child care costs here are over 20% of average earnings. The majority of EU countries provide subsidies to assist parents in meeting child care costs. One can see from our report that there is a range of subsidies but in Denmark parents pay only 33% of costs. In Ireland, women who decide to care for their children at home have no access to State pensions or maternity benefits. Their care work is not credited in our social insurance system.
What are the costs of that lack of subsidy? We know from the OECD's 2004 review that child care costs in Ireland are unsustainable. We also know that Ireland has a particularly high reduction in women in the labour force, particularly after the birth of the second child. Child care costs are having an impact on poverty among women and children directly connected to the fact that women, particularly lone parents, cannot move out of poverty owing to the lack of child care facilities available. High child care costs also have negative effects on equality among children, since very often those from the most vulnerable households, who have been proven to benefit from early intervention, are excluded.
It is now time for Ireland to put children's development and education at the heart of society by creating a sustainable, equitable and affordable child care infrastructure. Our proposed subsidised model of child care starts with care provision for children aged up to 12. We propose paid maternity leave that would increase to 26 weeks, five days' paternity leave — we see that as a start, since there is currently none — and 26 weeks' paid parental leave. That gives parents the choice of caring for their children at home for the first year of a child's life. It has been proven by a great deal of research that such provision is vitally important to a child's development.
We also propose that there be a full-time, means-tested parental allowance payment for the parents of children under the age of five, with a part-time payment too. There should be credits for people caring for children under the age of 12. We also want the introduction of paid parental leave for the current provision of 14 weeks per child under the age of five, along with a parallel part-time leave structure. We are combining the recommendations of our social welfare reform and child care models.
The proposed model of child care provides for a ten year implementation plan since we know that it cannot be done immediately. The model is based on mixed delivery of provision utilising the existing diverse services. We also propose that the subsidy be paid directly to the provider, based on services being approved and meeting the required quality standards. The parents would be entitled to select approved child care services of their choice, subject to an income test. Once the parent has selected a service the agreed subsidy will be paid directly to the provider and the parent will pay the remainder of the fee. That is how it works in many other European countries.
Regarding that subsidised model, there would be universal early childhood care and education for three and four year olds. That is similar to the recommendations of the National Economic and Social Forum. There would be extended care, by which we mean care outside school, including after the school day has finished and during holidays. We are also talking about subsidised, full-day care for one and two year olds and extended care for five to 14 year olds.
There are several benefits to this model. First, it will support the development of a regulated, quality, accessible child care sector. It will ensure that all families, particularly low-income ones, can access quality, affordable child care facilities. It will facilitate parents, especially women, to move in and out of work at different stages of their lives. It will also facilitate choice regarding where children are cared for. Critically, it will recognise parenting in the social welfare system as a key contingency. It will support the equality of women by removing many barriers to employment, education and training and participation in public life.