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“I FEEL SAD when I hear other parents say they’re looking forward to the summer holidays – for me it’s a time of stress and survival.”
This response from a single mother in Dublin captures a feeling shared by many parents across Ireland with most primary schools now closed for the two-month summer break.
For working families, this time of year often brings a stressful scramble to secure childcare — with far more weeks to cover than most can manage with annual leave alone.
Patching together cover to ensure children are cared for can become a logistical and financial headache.
We asked our readers to tell us how they expect to cope with childcare over the next two months.
We got lots of responses.
Our thanks to everyone who got in touch.
One recurring message from parents contacting us was simple: families need more support – not just financially, but structurally and culturally – to manage school holidays.
A mother, who asked to remain anonymous, told us that her family’s only real backup plan for summer childcare is parental leave.
Parental leave provides parents the opportunity to take unpaid time off work to care for their children, with each parent being entitled to 26 weeks of parental leave for each child.
“We have no after-school options. I’ve stretched my parental leave over the years – half-days during term, the odd week in summer – but I’m nearly out, and my kids are only seven and nine.”
I find myself counting down the days until school starts again in late August.
She urged the government to extend parental leave beyond the current 26 weeks per child and to raise the age cap beyond 12.
“Are we meant to leave a 12-year-old home alone for the summer? That’s not safe. They still need us.”
Marie, a working parent, said the government could make an immediate difference by allowing the National Childcare Scheme (NCS), which provides financial support to help with the cost of childcare for children up to 15 years old, to cover the cost of summer camps.
She also believes there’s an urgent need to shift workplace culture, so that options like shorter working years or taking parental leave during the summer become more accepted.
“In my workplace a shorter working year is available,” she said, “but it’s frowned upon, not encouraged — and often just adds more stress.”
Another Dublin parent told us that they would like to take more leave to spend more time with their children, but is currently not able to.
“The kids do love their creche and camps, and they don’t know any difference, but it’s hard not to feel guilty.”
Several parents called for a review of the academic calendar, as many primary schools push a number of days off back until June to offer a nine-week break during the summer, rather than the standard eight weeks.
“Why is it nine weeks, not eight?” asked one reader. “Every extra day is a logistical nightmare for families.”
Donal Swan, Women’s Economic Equality Co-Ordinator with the National Women’s Council, told The Journal that managing childcare is a “year-round problem” for many parents, adding that “people’s jobs don’t stop over the summer”.
According to Swan, an overhaul of the traditional calendar structure of education is needed to “break up the summer break” and help parents bridge the gap.
Some respondents felt the situation was symptomatic of a wider failure to recognise the needs of modern families.
“We need a proper government working group to look at this,” one parent said, suggesting a cross-departmental approach that includes education and children’s services.
“They should listen to parents who work full-time with no childcare options. And please make sure it has gender balance, we know who this burden falls on.”
One parent in Limerick said the entire structure of summer childcare is out of sync with how people live and work today.
“We need breakfast clubs, after-school care, summer camps – and not just in private, for-profit settings. The current system doesn’t support two working parents. It definitely doesn’t support single parents.”
They also suggested greater promotion of four-day work weeks for employers, even just for the summer.
“One extra day a week would make a huge difference to family life – and could actually improve productivity.”
The cost of summer childcare facilities came up repeatedly.
According to research from Cork-based financial planning firm Provest, it cost almost €1,500 for childcare and summer camps last year for a family with two primary-school children.
They found that the average cost of the daytime activity camps is between €70 and €130 per week per child, with many parents signing their children up for multiple camps across the summer months.
Our readers’ answers seem to indicate that prices have increased.
A Dublin-based mother of two said that her son, aged four, is finishing up with Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) at the end of June.
During term time, care is cheaper because the ECCE scheme covers 9am to midday for children aged between 2 years and 8 months and 5-and-a-half years old. But in summer, those hours must be paid for — and costs soar.
“To attend his creche full time (7.30am – 6pm) for the summer, it costs €1,097 a month,” the mother told us.
Another parent suggested increasing NCS subsidies during the summer months, especially when ECCE ends.
Hannah, a parent in Dublin with two children aged eight and ten, argued for school-based wraparound care.
“Children should be able to stay in their school building before and after class, looked after by childcare professionals, not teachers. It would allow them to do activities and spend more time with friends,” Hannah said.
She praised the introduction of the NCS, but said providers need better support.
“I pay €431.03 per child each month of the year. That is after NCS deductions are taken from the cost,” Hannah said.
“The childcare site we use pulled out of the Core Funding model after a fee increase was denied. Fees went up 24% just before summer.”
Another parent in Limerick described how the way NCS hours are calculated leaves families of school-age children at a disadvantage.
“Our creche was approved to raise fees based on 45 hours of care, even though their afterschool service only runs 25 hours a week,” she said.
“So while the full fee increase applied, we could only claim NCS for half of it. That means we’re now paying more than we were before the universal NCS rate increased — the opposite of what was promised.”
She said she’ll pay €204 a week over the summer for 90 hours of care for two children.
But in September, when afterschool hours resume, the cost jumps to €213 a week for just 45 hours.
We’re over a barrel. We’re lucky to have a place we love, but we’re stuck.
“Our society is not fit-for-purpose to support two working parents; it’s not fit-for-purpose to support single parents.”
For other families, the issue goes beyond cost.
A Dublin parent said that parents need “longer, cheaper, and more inclusive camps”, including ones that cater for children with additional needs and reflect our national language.
“Right now, Irish-language camps are unaffordable for most families. If we want the language to thrive, we should make those camps free, especially in DEIS areas.”
NWC’s Donal Swan said that “so much” of the issues around childcare is in relation to places.
“There’s so many parts of the country that are essentially deserts, where there aren’t places at all for children or everything is so hugely oversubscribed,” Swan said.
“The summer is a really good example of just how hard it is for parents to try and find a patchwork of supports needed to get them through.”
Susan, another Dublin-based parent, echoed the need for more inclusive, school-based options, especially for children with additional needs.
She has a nine-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter, who has Down Syndrome.
While Susan told us that she was relieved to access a three-week summer programme at the school that her daughter attends, the other five weeks of the holidays have to be covered through a mix of paid and unpaid leave.
“The usual camps aren’t an option for us – those that do accept children with additional needs often require a parent to stay, which defeats the purpose,” Susan said.
We’re lucky to have support this year, but it won’t be sustainable every summer.
Susan said the lack of inclusive childcare options explains why so many parents of children with disabilities leave the workforce.
“There is simply no provision by the State. And because our daughter may be dependent on us long-term, we feel pressure to stay in work now to build financial security.
“But the system isn’t making that possible.”
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