Up to €8,000 in childcare subsidy for families earning less than €47,500
Mothers and creche operators have warned that the new childcare subsidies are stepping stones that do not go far enough.
All parents will see fees fall about €80 a month while the least well off, who use registered child minders or nurseries, will be in line for grants worth €8,000 from next September.
Ciara Olwill, living in the Liberties in Dublin and teaching in Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal in Inchicore, said there should have been a greater distinction from high earners.
"I think it's a stepping stone but it's not enough," she said. "The cost of childcare in this country is one of the highest there is. The €960 is roughly one month out of 12 of the childcare costs and one month is not enough, particularly for middle- and low-income earners."
The pregnant mother-of-one said she believed child benefit should be means-tested and that graded subsidies for nursery, childminder and after-school care should be tailored to include average earners.
"I just feel that middle-income earners are being categorised with high earners for most things, particularly the cuts in USC. And it's great. I will benefit but so will people who earn double what I do. They will benefit to the same extent," she said.
Children's rights groups and charities were broadly supportive of the initiatives.
But questions have been raised over whether creches will be able to meet demand, if there are enough qualified staff willing to work for near-minimum wage salaries and how much of an impact a state subsidy scheme will make to parents who use family or friends to care for their children.
The headline proposal is for a €960 annual subsidy for all parents with children aged six months to three years in registered care.
On top of that, families who take home less than €47,500 a year will be entitled to up to €8,000 in subsidies if their child aged six months to 15 years is in care for 40 hours a week.
The subsidy drops the more a family's income increases, up to a limit of 55,100 euro for those with three children in care.
Joan Sheehan, owner of Nan's Place creche in Leopardstown, Dublin, for the past 20 years, has nine children in her care at any one time.
"The scheme is unfair. I have a lot of parents who aren't putting their children in for 40 hours a week," she said. "It's still very expensive. For part-time, that's two or three days, it's up to €720."
Ms Sheehan said many mothers and fathers limit the time a child spends in the creche because of affordability, because they want to keep a foot on the career ladder and to ensure they spend quality time with their children.
She also bemoaned the poor wages for qualified staff working demanding hours - about 10.25 euro an hour for college-educated professionals.
"I can't say I will take in more children. It isn't a case of thinking I can make more money," she said. "We need recognition for the job that professional childcare workers do."
According to Laura Erskine, spokesmum for MummyPages.ie, Ireland's biggest online parenting community, the 2017 Budget announcements are not as "family-friendly" as anticipated.
"This year's Budget announcements are to be welcomed as an important first step in building a more balanced society where the choice to provide for your own family and care for your family are finally backed by investment rather than just more strategy and proposals."
"The combination of the universal and means-tested childcare provisions for children from six months to 15 years, together with the financial provision for two weeks paternity leave, marks an important shift for the government towards balancing the care of children between parents.
"Our MummyPages mum community simply want the choice to be able to return to work after having children and to be able to share the care of their baby more equally with their partner in the first 12-months of their child's life."
"The childcare subsidies announced today are nominal compared to the actual costs facing families every month, however once in place they can be improved over time. In addition the requirement for childcare does not stop for working parents once the child starts the pre-school system. In fact, the cost of between four to six hours afterschool care can cost almost as much as full-time care for an infant once the extra cost of collecting these children from school is factored in."
