Sinn Féin pledges to cap childcare costs at €10 per day and introduce 52 week parent’s leave

https://www.thejournal.ie/sinn-fein-childcare-plan-6486380-Sep2024/

Posted by Static-Jak

27 Comments

  1. badger-biscuits on

    Gen election 2024 manifestos are going to be bangers all over

    ![gif](giphy|3oEdv22bKDUluFKkxi|downsized)

    The fiscal space for ‘costings’ is unbelievable

  2. >Sinn Féin’s finance spokesperson said the programme would be funded from the existing government surplus, which is currently more than €8bn.

    So as soon as the surplus years end, it will be all rolled back. This is why you don’t put day to day spending on things like unpredictable surpluses.

    Edit: Sinn Féin literally said themselves in their own manifesto for budget 2024 that they wouldn’t do this type of day to day spending with a surplus. And yet we still have people in this thread defending it.

  3. Who will pay for this? If it’s to come from general taxation does that mean something else is to be cut or are they going to tax us more?

  4. Would love to see how the armchair economists of r/Ireland would have reacted when free secondary school education was announced.

  5. This is great in principle, but they should be clear what sacrifices are going to happen elsewhere to fund it. Paying for stuff from a surplus that could evaporate at any moment seems beyond dumb.

  6. Sinn Fein are throwing out all sort of promises, next we will all be able to sit at home and not work, free houses for all

    Shake that money tree

    It’s all waffle, people shouldn’t fall for this nonsense but they will

    Wiat for the down votes from the Sinn Fein online mafia, can’t say anything negative about Sinn Fein or they get all upset

  7. Terrible_Way1091 on

    >because the state is recording significant surpluses each year and is projected to record significant surpluses each year

    Celtic tiger is back baby!

  8. Ok they say this would cost €315 million but to provide childcare to every preschool child in Ireland it would cost a bit less than €5 billion at a cost of €14K per child to creches I’d like to say yes but I don’t think we can do that.

    I do think the government needs to throw a €1-2 billion initiative for childcare. But I think 5 is a challenge.

    Also SF are relying excessively on corporate tax to maintain a programme like this.

  9. If we’ve learned anything it’s that grand announcements from political parties are as good as useless because any party in government will be part of a coalition, and in the negotiations for the program for government many of the parties objectives go straight out the window in the name of compromise.

  10. TheFreemanLIVES on

    It might go some way towards helping with the rapidly declining birth rate since 2008, but who cares about the future when we are more worried what things cost in the present? Why worry about a rapidly ageing population with less tax payers to support it, will be grand sure.

  11. Otherwise-Winner9643 on

    One thing that might make sense would be to stop paying children’s allowance in cash.

    I listened to the podcast “the witness”, which gives an amazing insight into how someone can end up in these terrible situations, doing terrible things.

    One thing that stood out is that the busiest day for drug dealing was children’s allowance day.

    Would we be better not to give cash, but instead free childcare/tax subsidies for childcare, free hot meals in schools, food vouchers (that can’t be used for cigarettes or alcohol), free educational summer camps, school uniforms etc?

    It could net out from a cost perspective, but ensure it supports families and most importantly, the kids.

  12. Jacksonriverboy on

    Maybe 52 week maternity leave and 8+ weeks paternity leave.

    Parents leave can only be taken by people who can afford to be shorted on pay.

  13. LoL they also will guarantee 417 sunny days per year, Guinness will be 1.70 per pint and Beamish will be free every 2nd week…

  14. We’re charged a little over 1k/month gross for each of our two kids in crèche.

    When you take the recent NCS increase and ECCE into account, it only costs about €16/day/child net across a 5 day week for full time child care, for up to 11 hours a day, with all meals provided.

    Childcare is still hella expensive, but the updated subsidies really eat into it.

  15. I’m a leftist, but these guys are a pack of fucking jokers at this stage. We had these promises in the 90’s with Fianna Fail, it’ll all end in absolute shit with SF, they aren’t even trying to be realistic.

    Build up the coffers, use the interest for day to grow the economy and on capital projects like building houses, fine.

    52 weeks off work and €10 euro per day for childcare is insane, it’s just not realistic for where we are right now.

    Next week they’ll say they’ll bring in a 4 day working week, and while these things may be individually possible, together they are not.

  16. notions_of_adequacy on

    If there’s a cap, then wages for childcare workers will struggle to go up if cost of living increases the way it is there won’t be many willing to stay in the job