As negotiations on forming a new Government concluded yesterday, they confirmed that they plan to reduce the cost of childcare to €200 per child per month.
Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and The Regional Independent Group have made a commitment to reduce the cost of childcare in the lifetime of the next Government.
They plan on doing this “progressively” over the next five years.
There are also other plans to help hard-up parents with the cost of childcare over the next five years.
The new Government will try to buy or build state-run childcare facilities and also plan to make creche fees more transparent for parents.
Speaking to RTE last night, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said: “I am absolutely committed to serving out the term because there is an agenda of change and I will work every day of those three years to do what I can to get this programme for government delivered to make life better for people.”
“The programme is as ambitious as the last programme was in respect of the need to address climate change and the challenges of biodiversity.”
Other main objectives announced in the program for the Government include reducing the cost of running mall business by removing red tape as well as investing in vital infrastructure to help them succeed and grow.
“We will strive to reduce costs for business, cut through unnecessary bureaucracy, ensure access to finance and invest in vital infrastructure to help businesses succeed,” the programme notes.
“If we are to sustain economic prosperity and continue to grow jobs, we must keep a laser focus on competitiveness and innovation over the next five years.”
The Government has also pledged to increase construction capacity to meet new housing targets of 300,000 units by 2030.
Micheal Martin said: “We have seen progress on housebuilding, but not enough and it needs to be faster.”
“We have got to get the agencies of state and the mechanisms available to the public service to deliver housing faster. We have a Planning Act that we didn’t have at the commencement of the last government.
“That will hopefully enable us to get decisions more quickly in respect of housing and other infrastructure. That is the other big piece of this programme for government, infrastructure delivery in terms of roads, public rail and so on.”
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