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NEED TO CATCH up? TheJournal.ie brings you a round up of today’s news.
#BRAZIL: The worst drought in decades is hitting hard. [NewScientist]
#GREECE: The country’s new government wasted no time implementing reform.
#EUROPEAN UNION: A ruling gave the green light to integration tests.
#ISRAEL: As many as five people died in a Hezbollah attack near Lebanon. [The Jerusalem Post]
#MIDDLE EAST: Jordan looks set to swap an Iraqi woman on death row for a military pilot being held captive. [The Jordan Times]
#SPAIN: Ten priests were charged in a child sex abuse case.
#UNITED STATES: Residents in the north-east are digging their way out of the snow. [BBC News]
The first woman allowed into a US medical school was admitted as a joke. She went on to be a world-class doctor. Read her story here [PBS]
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One the plus side if you are paying rent and childcare at the moment and are waiting for the government to sort it out; you can actually survive for a pretty long time on baked beans and seaweed. So, every cloud…
@Hugh Morris: Oh yes. All that.
A very thorough article highlighting the huge issue of childcare in Ireland. My son is starting creche in July, I was very lucky to get him a place through sheer persistence. I was on 22 waiting lists & now it’s going to cost more than our mortgage. The government needs to do A LOT more to help parents
I think childcare costs vary massively outside of Dublin. I know some people paying €150 pw in the west and others paying €800pw in Dublin. The whole thing needs complete overhaul and needs to be regulated and subsidized so it’s affordable for parents and worthwhile for the Childminder.
@Edward Reid: I am aware of a childminder who is minding 4 children. One toddler from early morning and 1 child from 12.30 and two older children from 2 and 3pm respectively. Drop offs and pick ups are required. Children minded in their own home. 7/8 hour days. She is getting a daily rate of 50 euro per day. No breaks during the day, no paid annual leave, no paid sick leave. Parents decide on days required each week. If they don’t need the childminder she doesn’t get paid. Parents complain of lack of child care services but when families have very qualified child care services they under value it completely. Needs complete overhaul
@Sinead O Donnell: If she’s minding the kids in their own home then the parents are her employer and have all of the fun legal obligations that come with that.
If she’s paid €50 a day that seems lower than minimum wage for a start (I don’t know her hours)
It’s not really the system that is wrong there. It’s that she’s getting paid cash in hand (I’m assuming there) and this is absolving her of her rights and the parents of their obligations.
https://www.revenue.ie/en/life-events-and-personal-circumstances/children/registering-child-minders-as-employees.aspx
@Michael O’Neill: I agree with most of the content of your reply. Unfortunately as she minds kids in their home, she cannot register as self employed and as she is not a live in nanny, the childrens parents are exempt from revenue obligations. In this case the child minder falls within the cracks of a very inefficient system.
Genuine question, (I don’t have children), Why is Childcare so darn expensive in Ireland? Is it due to cost of insurance, lack of state investment, lack of pricing regulations, rental costs, or privatized bjg profit making creches?? I would love to know the breakdown of overheads for running a creche in a city for example.
@Ang: all of the reasons you gave with the exception of big profits. Most childcare facilities run by individuals spend far more time on filling out forms, register children , trying to get answers to queries and the such like out of hours than they do actually looking after children.
@Ang: it is so expensive mainly because insurance in Ireland is fully monopolised and is operating as a cartel. At the moment there is only 1 company that provides insurance to children in creches. Its something around 900 per child.
Also the government never heard of the word “childcare”.
have your say