EAPN IRELAND CHILDCARE BENCHMARKING PAPER

The European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) Ireland is a network of groups and individuals in Ireland working against poverty that aim to put the fight against poverty at the top of national and EU agendas. Quality accessible childcare has been proven to have positive outcomes for children and families in poverty. Ireland now has one of the highest levels of childcare costs within Europe; we also have one of the highest levels of child poverty. In this paper, EAPN Ireland urges the government to make affordability a central concern of emerging policy on childcare to ensure the goal of equitable access for all families and their childcare and to ensure that childcare responses meet the needs of families on low incomes. Background In Spring of this year (2007), EAPN Ireland hosted a number of workshops and focus groups and commissioned the production of this policy paper on childcare in Ireland. Feedback from participants at the workshops and focus groups highlighted the lack of access to affordable, quality childcare in Ireland for families on low incomes and its impact on families and on their children. Participants made a clear call for increase