Childcare issue will be the tail that wags the dog in election 2007

- 72% say vote will be influenced by progress on childcare issue
- 66% say current Government performs poorly on childcare
- Childcare issue seen as significant stress factor for workers

Childcare continues to be a raging issue for most workers in Ireland making the blood boil, causing the bank account to overheat and pushing the stress levels up. And it also has the potential to affect the outcome of the next election according to the results of the 4th annual childcare survey by RecruitIreland.com. Almost 700 people were surveyed and a massive 72% of respondents say their vote will be influenced by the availability of affordable childcare, 66% say the current Government has performed poorly or very poorly and 80% say the Governmentís introduction of a annual payment of Euro1,000 is an inadequate response to what many people see as a crisis issue.

The childcare issue is also an important one for employers as 63% of respondents said they would change employment and take a pay cut in order to access crche facilities in their place of work. The size of pay cut considered by the majority of respondents was between 10% and 20%. Using the average industrial wage of c.Euro35,000 this represents a willingness to take a pay cut of between Euro3,500 and Euro7,000 from annual income in order to have easy access to childcare.

Nationally, just 11% of respondents get to spend in excess of 4 hours per working day with their children. In Dublin however, that figure falls to just 5%. The majority of respondents are working a normal 5 day week and a quarter of respondents are getting up at 6am in order to get their children to childcare on time. A further 33% are lucky enough to rise at 6.30am in order to meet childcare and workday deadlines.

Over one quarter of respondents spend the same on childcare as their mortgage or rent while a further 21% of respondents pay more for childcare than their mortgage. Of those who pay more for childcare than their mortgage most (40%) are paying 10% more while one in three respondents pay anything from 11% to 30% more for childcare than for their mortgage. Almost one in five respondents spend one quarter of their monthly income on childcare.

Speaking about the results, Aoife Curtin of RecruitIreland.com said:
ìChildcare is obviously a loaded issue for parents and it looks as if itís going to be a key issue in the next election. However it also poses wider questions for society, particularly as parents are not getting to spend time with their children during their normal workdays. In addition the stress ñ both financial and emotional ñ brought on by the lack of affordable childcare facilities is one that everyone should take notice of. The issue of affordability was highlighted by many respondents to our survey with many people feeling that they cannot afford to have children given the costs involved.

From the employerís perspective, these results show that a real opportunity exists to attract and retain key staff by providing high quality childcare access as an incentive. However it also raises a challenge for employers as many respondents stated that taking parental could be seen as a hindrance to promotion prospects.î