For the many parents who attempt to juggle both work and family commitments in Ireland, a significant hurdle that needs to be overcome is access to quality, affordable childcare.
According to the OECD, the average cost of childcare across its’ member countries is equivalent to 12% of a family’s income – if only this were true in the Irish context where average cost of childcare represents a massive 35% of a family’s income .Even for higher earners, the percentage is 24% – still double the OECD average. As a percentage of wages, net childcare costs in Ireland are the highest in the EU.
Childcare costs can represent the equivalent of a second mortgage for families and can make it uneconomic for both parents to work. And where does that leave those on low incomes or single parent families for whom the relative cost of childcare is even higher – 40% of average income for a single parent on an average income? This is particularly pertinent in Ireland where over 25% of all families with children are one-parent families, with 87% of them headed by women.
Clearly these high costs represent a natural barrier/deterrent for those parents seeking to leave the live register and re-enter employment.
Last year, as part of the European Commission’s analysis of the Irish economy and the structural challenges which must be addressed if Ireland’s economic recovery is to be sustained, access to affordable childcare was identified as a priority issue, in particular for women and for low income families.
6 months ago the Commission published it’s ‘Country Report on Ireland’ and again made the point that the “limited availability and high cost of childcare remains a significant barrier to increased female labour market participation”. [Women’s employment rate at 61% remains 10% lower than men’s.]
The report concluded that “No progress was made in improving access to more affordable and full-time childcare”.
This contributes to Ireland having one of the highest proportions of people living in households with low work intensity in the EU, increasing the risk of social exclusion and child poverty.
A recent survey carried out by a national newspaper shows that it costs up to €1,150 a month for a creche place for a baby. And for both a baby and toddler the cost can rise as high as €2,035 per month.
But to meet that monthly expense for two children a mother would need to earn €30,000 a year – which after tax would leave her with €2,071 a month, or virtually nothing once the childcare costs were paid.
The average price of a creche place in the survey was €888 for a baby and €1,596 for two children – so you’d need to earn €22,000 a year just to break even on work, as that salary leaves you with just €1,611 a month after tax.
And despite stagnant wages, parents have also been hit with rises in childcare costs in the last year, with Central Statistic Office figures showing a 2.4pc increase.
A recent survey found 63pc were struggling to meet their childcare costs while 84pc of stay-at-home mothers wanted to work in some capacity but felt trapped by childcare costs.
Childcare providers also have huge overheads and costs to meet. Most qualified childcare workers are just earning the minimum wage and are finding it hard to make ends meet.
This is a huge issue for parents, childcare providers and society in general and one that has failed to be tackled by previous and present governments.

School book rental schemes remove the need for parents to purchase new textbooks and are also considered as a viable alternative to annual second-hand book sales. Schools with established schemes indicated an average saving to parents of almost eighty per cent of the cost of buying new books.

School principals and boards of management not currently providing access to the book rental scheme are being urged to do so for the sake of hard-pressed families.

The scheme, currently being run in 90% of primary schools, allows pupils to pay a lower amount for the books they need, provided they are returned at the end of the year.

At second level the scheme is operated over three years and requires a deposit.

Independent County Councillor and Guidance Counsellor at St. Mary’s College, in Ballisodare, Marie Casserly says that unfortunately the uptake in secondary schools is much lower at just 64%.

According to Ms. Casserly, the scheme is excellent as it cuts out the hassle of buying books in August, dramatically cuts down on costs for parents and reduces waste.

A survey has found that parents will spend an average of almost €400 per child on uniforms and books this September.

A study by the Irish League of Credit Unions found that almost a third of parents find themselves in debt covering back to school costs.

The survey found that uniforms can cost an average of €166 for primary school children and €258 for secondary school students.

School books for primary school children cost an average of €106 and €213 for secondary school students.

Over two-thirds of those surveyed said the costs will impact their ability to pay household bills or afford a holiday.

The survey found that 20% of parents surveyed said they will need to borrow to meet the costs of going back to school

It is unfair that not all parents have and students have access to it. It is an extremely costly time of year for parents, having to pay for buses, school uniforms, art supplies, and equipment for different subjects, not to mention voluntary contributions to schools, and school insurance.

Casserly alarmed at rural crime figures for Sligo, Leitrim & South Donegal

Speaking this week, Independent Councillor and Dáil candidate Marie Casserly expressed alarm that three of the top six highest areas for recorded crime last year in Connacht and Ulster were located in the Sligo/Leitrim constituency. The statistics were published in The Times 2015 Neighbourhood Crime Survey recently.

Bundoran Garda Station recorded one of the country’s highest crime rates, with 8.2 reported crimes per 100 of the population, putting it 15th on the national index. Carrick-on-Shannon station recorded 6.1 crimes per 100 of the population placing it in 35th position nationally.  The third highest station for crime in the constituency, Sligo, reported 5.6 crimes per 100 of the population. It was the 47th highest station nationally.

The only stations recording higher crime than any of these across all of Ulster and Connacht were Letterkenny, Ballinasloe and Galway. In addition Bundoran, Sligo and Carrick-on-Shannon all record the highest incidence of crime of any towns in their respective counties.

“Not only does the closure of Garda stations across rural Ireland mean that people feel less safe in their homes, it also means we see statistics like this which see three of the top six highest crime hotspots in Connacht and Ulster located in Sligo/Leitrim.” said Marie.

“There are entire counties – including Mayo, Monaghan and Roscommon – with lower crime rates than recorded in Bundoran, Sligo or Carrick-on-Shannon and the message to the Minister for Justice and Garda Commissioner is that the level of crime in rural towns must be reduced,” she added.

Between 2013 and 2015 ten Garda stations in counties Sligo and Leitrim were closed and Councillor Casserly said that rural policing must become a priority for the next government.

“Any increase in crime in rural towns and cities cannot be tolerated. While much is made of falling crime statistics nationally, the fact is that some of the most serious crimes continue to increase including burglary, theft and assaults. Effective policing, tagging of alleged offenders while on bail and strong co-operation from the community can all help in the fight against crime,” she added.

Full details of The Times National Crime Survey 2015 can be found online here: http://times-deck.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/projects/312351bff07989769097660a56395065.html

Basic mobile phone signals are at an unacceptable poor level in many parts of the North West and a solution must be found.

That’s the view of Marie Casserly, Independent councillor and General Election candidate for the Sligo-Leitrim, South Donegal, West Cavan constituency.
She said the Government should ask the regulator ComReg to ensure phone customers deliver the service they are charging people for. Cllr Casserly said that practically every day she hears of the frustrations of mobile phone customers. She said signals are deteriorating all the time. It’s common to all networks and not just confined to remote areas.

“I know of several people on the outskirts of large towns who can only make and receive calls in one corner of a room in their home”. She said that she had a complaint this week from an elderly woman only three miles from Sligo town who has to go out to her back garden to receive a call from her son or to send a text message. “This is not good enough.  Over 46 years ago, in 1969, long before the computer age, men landed on the moon and were able to send instant pictures and sound back to earth.  Yet in 2015 we are expected to put up with this situation,” Cllr Casserly said.

She said customers are paying for a service they are not getting. “Often they find themselves locked into a 24-month contract and are unable to switch to another service provider who might have a stronger signal in their particular area. “However, if justice were to prevail, the company should not be allowed to compel people to pay if they cannot or will not provide the service.” She said she is aware of cases where people spend up to half an hour trying to make a case to Customer Service, most of which is spent holding on or talking to a machine. “Eventually they get through to somebody who tries to fob them off with false promises of efforts to improve the signal”.

She said that if the mobile phone companies are not prepared to deal with the issue the Government should ask the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) to intervene. She said the issue of poor or no broadband coverage in rural areas is rightly highlighted on a regular basis, but the mobile phone problem is just as serious and does not receive as much attention.

Councillor Casserly said she will pursue both the phone and broadband issues at every opportunity.

That was the message from Councillor Marie Casserly who is proposing that the Council develop a five year Tourism Strategy to capitalise on our growing reputation as an adventure capital.

Some of the key projects suggested by Cllr Casserly include developing greenways in the countryside, new blueway routes for water activities, enhancing beach facilities and creating and supporting a mountain biking site in Coolaney to “rival any in Ireland.”

Cllr Michael Clarke said the county needed a five year strategy.

Council CEO Ciarán Hayes said that work has started on a tourism strategy and has had “initial conversations” with Fáilte Ireland, IT Sligo and the Chamber of Commerce.

He said it was “important that any strategy is thoroughly researched for members and includes a study of the nature of the tourism product to be offered. “We cannot come at this from a blunderbuss approach.”

Mr Hayes said members needed to consider if the Council was a direct provider of tourism or a facilitator between the providers and the agencies.

“How does it develop our arts and cultural offering? How does it include our night-time economy?” he asked.

Responding, Cllr Casserly said the Council should be both provider and facilitator.

“A lot of plans and policies end up sitting on a shelf. I’m sure that won’t happen here. We need to have something more concrete and see what we’ve achieved in five or six months time,” she said.

Mr Hayes said he agreed and said it was not his intention to “put together a strategy to gather dust.”

“Each councillor will come under pressure. We need to focus our resources to get the most for Sligo. We will move forward on that in the coming months,” he added.

Dunnes Stores is one of a number of employers in Ireland that do not recognize their employees rights to be represented by a union in relation to any discussions regarding their employment.

The fact is that over 4000 employees of Dunnes are members of a union (Mandate) and yet the company can, legally, ignore their request to be represented

This has resulted in the company being able to introduce low hours contracts, where employees do not know when they are rostered to work until very close to the time they are due in work. This leads to an intolerable situation, where employees are always on call from their workplace

The low (zero) hours contracts are particularly difficult to deal with. An employee does not know how many hours they will be working from week to week, and therefore do not know what their income will be. This has a knock on effect in relation to all aspects of their lives, including housing (getting a mortgage would be almost impossible under these circumstances).

According to a survey of staff 75% are on part time flexible contracts and 98% want more hours employment, indicating a significant cohort of underemployed people working for Dunnes.

The Supreme court in the Ryanair case has clearly found that employers are entitled to operate a non unionised place of work, which is the situation that pertains today.

However, the lisbon treaty, which contains the EU charter of fundemental rights contains the ‘Right to collective bargaining and action’.

Given the precedence of European Law over National Law, it seems that a high court case, with the possibility of appealing to the Supreme Court and the European Courts could well be needed to allow the principle of collective bargaining to take place

The visit of Prince Charles and his wife Camilla is a very welcome development for our region. The coverage and exposure for this type of visit to the North West is invaluable. I’m sure it will be an emotional visit for him and for locals alike and it shows that the relationship between our two countries has become one of solid friendship.
Britain is our closest neighbour and largest trading partner and a strong cordial relationship between neighbours is essential for the social and economic growth of both countries.

The visit to Yeats’s Grave at Drumcliffe and the Model Gallery will highlight the rich culture and heritage of the region and the visit to IT Sligo will be a fantastic opportunity for the college to showcase it’s state of the art facilities.

This visit puts the North West and the Wild Atlantic Way in the shop window for Tourism from the United Kingdom and Internationally and it’s a great opportunity to show off the natural beauty of our region.