Ireland plans for Phased re-opening

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The Taoiseach (Irish PM) has announced tonight a 4 phase period for re-opening the country but has said that schools will remain closed until September.
Must admit, I’m happy about the delay as I was worried about how I’d manage DS attending school with his dad cocooning as DH has a blood cancer.
Also, that small social gatherings of friends can begin on 18th May outdoors, providing still maintaining social distancing rules. That’s really lifted my spirits as I’m missing seeing my friends.
Any other Irish mumsnetters on here?
What are your thoughts about tonight’s announcement?

Has Leo articulated how much this will cost the Irish people? How he will financially support the parents with no child care who can’t work because their jobs can’t be done from home? Business Owners who are also parents and can’t open up? What the resulting impacts will be Ie the level of increased taxes, cuts to funding etc that will need to occur due to the cost to the economy of this extended plan? All in, this is a level of cost that must be unprecedented globally.

It will make the Greek economy look healthy.

Leo won't be in the job by then.............

@sotiredwe 9-3.30 completely free for anyone earning under 100k?? Surely that's not right...that's pretty much the whole country?!!

toodle parents who are both working are entitled to 30 hours childcare from the term after child is 3. That is term time only. And yes available when both parents earn under 100k I believe.

It makes a massive difference to family finances.

He mentioned the opening of creche and childcare for key workers in one of the earlier phases.

I imagine when people start to see the costs they will start to look at the lives they saved versus the devastation that was caused, and Leo may well be taken out.

Has he even articulated what these hundreds of thousands, if not more, will get in terms of financial support? The companies who can’t reopen, the people who can’t work, the companies who can’t operate fully because their staff can’t come into work? Has he even told them how much the Irish tax payer will be giving them?

Has he forecast the Amount of business closures, the rise in unemployment, the reduction of taxes being paid because of that unemployment, the and just how deep the Irish tax payer will need to dig to cover it?

So many people must be devastated today and worried out their minds.

@toodlehoo1 so everyone gets the 15 hours entitlement (3 hours a day) but just not all yr round. To qualify for the extra 15 hours a week both parents need to work (I think a minimum of 16 hours) & one can not earn over 100k so both earning 99k & you will qualify. Again it's only for 38 weeks of the yr & most settings do ask for a top for lunch or nappies, maybe £5 a day.

It also makes many parents able to go to work.

And is one of the reasons childcare / schools opening is so important in UK.

If Republic of Ireland is different then its really not comparable.

If many parents can mange their own childcare in Ireland then its a bit silly for the OP to say UK was silly to keep schools open for Key Workers (not exact words). Completely different economic environment which is not comparable.

Bluntness there was an election in Ireland just before this all kicked off.......

It’s hard to figure out from these comments what alternatives are being proposed.

Are you suggesting that all workers and schools start up again immediately due to the economic cost?
I don’t think anyone wants to take that risk.

How do parents manage for July and August anyway? Usually with grandparent support and that won’t be available. But it’s never the responsibility of the state.

There seems to be an economically conservative undertone which suggests that business takes priority over public health.

But also a refusal to contemplate that individuals are capable and familiar with creating solutions for challenging (international pandemic anyone) situations.

What we need to work on is getting our governments to respond with fair policies, I hope there will be more explanation of support packages in the coming weeks.

What we need less of is the competitive who’s doing Covid worse or better.

@sotiredwe so why do ppl in the U.K. say childcare costs so much? I'm genuinely intrigued? I never used the childcare in the U.K. I only used it here in Ireland and I never handed over a cent for childcare. I stayed home until the free hours kicked in (and yes the free hours are term time here too.

@Bluntness100 Varadkar is already in a caretaker role, he will either be in opposition or shared leadership position once a government is formed.

It means he is not held as much by public opinion, but also that he will likely not be entirely responsible for the aftermath. So difficult to assess the impact on decision making.

Hopefully as pp said, his medical background has had some influence.

Definitely helps keep people in work, I think it's more targeted at higher earners as it's pretty expensive for childcare before you get to that magical age 3, my childminder is £70 a day whereas my local nursery is £90. It's a huge saving but still not "free" as you may still need to cover the other 12 wks of the yr & obviously it depends on the hours you work as it's you may still need wraparound care.

From the gov perspective it's good to keep people in work, say you have 2 parents wife earns 50k & husband earns 70k. If the wife gives up work until child starts school gov loses out on 12k tax & NI for each yr not working. If wife stays working because she knows once she gets to 3 she will get funding (which I think costs the gov max 7k a yr per child) so gov gets more money overall.

I'm in Ireland, DP is an essential worker. I work from home and mind DD. It's not easy but doable. DSIL is a single mother and essential worker, she moved DMIL in at the start so that she could go to work.

Parents cope because there is paid child care available, child minders nurseries etc or grandparents.

You can’t create a solution if there is no paid child care and grand parents can’t step in. Many people don’t have someone to take their children when they go to work and they need to work to pay the bills. They need to be paid to stay home, but how the Irish population then pay that money back needs to be articulated.

There is no suggestion that business should be priorised over health. What is being said is it needs to be balanced.

People who need child care and need to work should have it available to them, removing all options is a devastating option for large chunks of the population.

Those who can work from home should be able to. But many can’t. Be it retail, factories, call centre, sales, trades, they can’t do it.

Sparkl that makes sense. Thanks.

@toodlehoo1 because it's still expensive until you get to 3, you would be looking at probably a minimum of a grand for a full time place. And once they turn 3 again it depends on hours because whilst you get to 30 free you may need to pay for an extra 10 hours at £10 an hour because of travel times etc. Then as mentioned there are the other 12 wks of the yr which would go back to full price.

DH is a key worker. I am furloughed. I cannot go back to work if there is no childcare. We have no family to help.

At one point I was paying ~£1100 for 2 children at nursery. That was with 1 child getting 15 free hours a week (before the additional 15 hours was introduced) and them only being there 3 days a week.

Laterally I was paying over £250 a month in wraparound fees for 3 days (our hours were split over the year). That was for 1 child.

5 days a week childcare would have cost me significantly more. I can't even remember what our hourly rate was but it had went up quite a lot just before he left. Our nursery was significantly cheaper than one in London / South East for example.

@Mightymurphy exactly and even if family was there to help you couldn't mix households anyway so wouldn't be an option .

A good, sensible cautious plan, in my opinion. (I am Irish but have lived in the UK for over 20 years.)

The UK government would do well to follow this as a blueprint.

A good, sensible cautious plan, in my opinion

I’m guessing you don’t need to work and need child care? That you’re financially comfortable enough that increased taxes etc to pay for this won’t bother you and give you financial hardship?

Because no one else would say this was good or sensible. It would only be those who could say I’m alright jack.

From what I can see, childcare and general return to work happens in July. So workers with school children will have to cover school holidays without grandparents. But other childcare they might have used should be available, generally speaking, when they go back to work. Covid payments I assume continue until then.
I don’t really see how parents versus non parents are being unfairly treated?

The question of keeping the economy on a kind of go slow to then is different. And the question of funding it. Maybe we can take high levels of compliance as a sort of vote for taking on this debt burden? I don’t know.

Interesting article by Fintan O’Toole in the times taking about bail outs. We spent 42bn euro on the bank bailout up to 2018, with 36bn saving two particular toxic banks. 30bn for Covid. I know which I think is getting outraged about.

Is worth getting, that should say.

I don't think things are going to go back to 'normal' for a long time. We need to accept this. People are being encouraged to work from home where possible and this will continue through the summer. Of course Leo and his advisors are considering the economic impact of the restrictions and trying to find the right balance. We won't get everything right but this is a working document and we need to see it as such.

Children in Ireland get 3 hours free preschool every day (term time) from 2.8 years until they start school. This is different to creche and usually done in a montessori setting. There is a play based curriculum for this. They start school at either 4 of 5 whenever the parent ( usually in consulation with the preschool teacher) feels they are ready. Outside of the preschool hours childcare is usually provided by parent, grandparent or childminder. Some children attend creche full time.
Primary school hours are shorter than in the UK, especially in the early stages and most extracurricular activities are organised outside of school. Primary schools finish at the end of June and reopen at the end of August. During the summer months children often attend camps (sports, science, art etc), these are privately run and outside of camp hours childcare is provided by parents, grandparents, childminders. Children whose parents both work full time and who do not have alternative childcare go to the creche for holidays where age suitable appropriate are provided. Many mothers (and increasingly fathers) work part time or take a career break.