FERGUS FINLAY: An historic new era of affordable and universal childcare is born

The economic return on early years investment is much higher than for any other stage in a child’s life, writes Fergus Finlay in the Irish Examiner.

WAS dismissive of the budget last week, with its fiver here and fiver there. It was a non-event, a lost opportunity. But in one way it may come to be seen as historic.

We’ve had famous — and infamous — budgets, and landmarks made before budget day, like the announcement of free second-level education by Donogh O’Malley. There have been memorable budgetary moments, like the introduction of free travel by Charles Haughey, and the introduction of payments for lone parents by Frank Cluskey. Both have stood the test of time. They aren’t just lasting monuments to the politicians that devised them, but have underpinned a deep and lasting cultural and social change.

Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone joins that list, now. The introduction, and development over time, of a proper national and universal scheme of affordable childcare is genuinely historic.

It faces up to the reality that has been largely ignored since we began talking about childcare in Ireland — that it isn’t possible to do it properly without subsidy. The design of a national programme, in the short time she has been in office, proves that she and her Department can really punch above their weight.

The Zappone Scheme, as it may come to be called, is the first time that we have adopted a universal approach to early-years childcare, with the aim of both making it affordable and significantly improving its quality.

Of course, the money available is not enough to do that in one fell swoop, but that was never going to be possible, unless we struck oil.

Read the full article in The Irish Examiner.