A brand new survey by the Irish Independent has shown that parents are paying up to €10,000 a year for after-school care for just one child.
That childcare is expensive in Ireland is no news to anyone who has children and go to work. But it might come as a surprise that even after children have started school childcare will continue to be a massive cost and financial burden to Irish families. Just last week, the OECD singled out high childcare costs as a major barrier to parents taking up work.
According to this new survey, prices on after school services vary widely across the country, and in some areas parents can expect to have to have to fork out up to €10,000 a year for after-school care.
One of the main problems is the lack of specialist after-school facilities, although many crèches operate an after-school service and some primary schools have set up after-school facilities.
Prices are highest in the capital (no surprise there), with Park Academy's Thornwood centre in Booterstown, Co Dublin, topping the list, charging parents a whopping €835 per month for a five-day service - which will end up costing a staggering €10,020 a year. A spokeswoman for Park Academy told the Independent that many locations outside south Dublin would have significantly lower costs.
Giraffe, in Lucan, Co Dublin, charges €595 for an after-school service, including collection and a hot meal, whilst Nurture is Douglas in Cork are looking for €615 per month.
Being able to remove collection costs bring prices down, so that after-school care provided in schools tends to be cheaper across the country. The lowest-priced service in our survey was at Realt na Mara National School in Dundalk, where the cost was €50 to €60 a week. The service includes supervised homework, activities and a hot snack, such as beans on toast.
Many centres also provide wraparound care to cater for parents starting work early who also need their children to be brought to school, naturally at a higher cost.
How is YOUR family affected by the cost of childcare and after school? Please drop me an e-mail at: Trine.Jensen@HerFamily.ie
