Dear colleague,
Welcome to this special edition of our newsletter. This week we published our submission to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs on its review of funding schemes for early care and education. We're delighted to share it with you. Our new policy brief - "The Double Dividend: Childcare that's Affordable and High Quality" - offers a summary. If you're short on time, we also have a short leaflet highlighting the key points.
In this issue, we also take a closer look at new figures released from the OECD comparing the cost of "childcare" across member countries. And we look at the recent EU recommendation to the Irish Government that it improve access to more affordable "childcare".
You can also now comment at the end of each article, so please feel free to share your thoughts.
Hope you're all enjoying the summer!
With best wishes,
The team at Start Strong
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Start Strong submission on funding schemes Start Strong has published a new policy brief " The Double Dividend: Childcare that's Affordable and High Quality". The brief is a summary of our submission to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs on its review of funding schemes for early care and education. In it, we set out policy proposals on how Government can achieve a "double dividend" of childcare that's affordable and high quality.
Read more
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New OECD data on affordability In April this year the OECD released updated figures that compare the cost of "childcare" across OECD countries. They show that the costs that parents pay for early care and education services in Ireland are still among the highest in all developed countries. Read more
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Affordability and quality both on EU agenda
The European Commission recently published recommendations for the Irish Government on economic growth and jobs. The so-called "Country Specific Recommendations" include a recommendation that the Irish Government should improve access to more affordable "childcare".
The Commission found that the extremely high cost of childcare in Ireland is a "significant barrier to parents finding employment and avoiding the risk of poverty".
Read more
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Start StrongAdvancing children's early care and education in Ireland
www.startstrong.ie+353-1-662-4018
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