Daniel Ennis

Oh, well, look, I've done my own bit of research on it, and the average we're paying across Ireland is €850.

Like, so many people are telling me that it's well above that, that they're paying.

And I know I'm not doing the numbers, but I'm paying above that.

Well over, Claire, well over.

Honestly, the amount of people that have reached out to me since, and again on DMs, privately, on social media, about paying €1,500, €1,600, €1,800.

simply from the UK.

It's just, it's really, it's really putting a strain on other people, on young people, on people with families.

And we know, look, this isn't just about cost.

It's about availability, waiting lists, and people being locked out of childcare altogether.

And it's something that I'm hearing, obviously I'm knocking on doors right across Dublin Central.

I'm hearing it from East Wall to Glass and Evan, from Sheriff Street to Stoneybatter.

You know, it's right across, again, the different constituencies.

But it disproportionately affects

is hitting women, as we know, low-income parents and low-income families.

Everyone deserves the right to equal opportunities to childcare and our government are not providing that amount.

Well, I think we need to implement immediately a public model of childcare and with the Social Democrats we're proposing partial care.

Look, it works, it's costed, it works for children, parents and early years educators, everyone involved in the system.

Straight away, we need to implement a cross-party Oireachtas Committee task with laying out the short, medium and long term.

This is not just an issue in Dublin Central, it's an issue right across Ireland.

And I think that Oireachtas Committee, the dedicated joint Oireachtas Committee, devised Sinatra Care in the same way I think we should provide a roadmap for parts of care and how we deliver this.