It’s summer. For working parents, that means a spike in childcare costs. With preschool and primary-aged children now on a two-month break, households must find cover for the 44-odd days the kids are at home.
Summer camps, au pairs, and muddle-through days – childcare at this time of year is an unstable Jenga tower. Some parents will take annual leave separately to cover the gaps, or take parental leave and go unpaid. Others will pay thousands of euro for a full-time solution, if they can find it.
How Ireland taxes workers and apportions tax spend has never prioritised childcare. Fully paid parental leave? Our Nordic brethren cracked that decades ago.
It’s been 50 years since Sweden introduced state-funded parental leave, designed for couples to share. Parents there are legally entitled to a total of 480 days off work, one of the most generous state-funded packages anywhere.
For the first 390 days, most parents can claim benefits equivalent to 80 per cent of their salaries, up to a monthly salary cap of about €4,150. After that, there is a daily statutory compensation of about €16. Sigh.
Whether you are caring for your children this summer, or paying someone else to do it, childcare is hitting your household finances. If you do have time off together, here are some budget-friendly ways to spend it.
Economic cycle
Greenways are an excellent way to reap a return on your taxes. There are now several hundred kilometres of glorious, car-free pathways around the country, making for a great free day out.
Investing in a bike rack will save you on rental, pack a picnic and the whole family can have multiple family days out for free.
Living in Dublin? Then head to Maynooth to join the Royal Canal Greenway – that’s 130km of level towpath, through four counties, ideal for walkers, runners and cyclists of all ages.
Other greenways include the Great Western Greenway from Westport (42km), the Limerick Greenway from Abbeyfeale (40km), the Suir Blueway from Carrick-on-Suir (21km), the Waterford Greenway from the city (46km), the Old Rail Trail from Athlone (43km) and Tralee to Fenit, a 13.6km finishing helpfully at a beach with a playground and public toilets.
Book it
Want free books and audio books? Then get a library card. Parents of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Captain Underpants or Shop of Impossible Ice Creams fans will know that keeping kids’ reading habits satiated is costly.
Library membership is free and kids can borrow up to 12 items for three weeks – that saves on a pricey pit stop at the airport bookshop. Use your library card to download the Borrowbox app to borrow free audio books and ebooks – a sanity-saving hack for long car trips.
Many libraries host baby book clubs, summer reading clubs, arts and crafts mornings – and even free creative writing summer camps. Another great return on your taxes.
Free Wednesdays
On the first Wednesday of each month, many OPW sites that usually charge an entrance fee are free. Attractions free on Wednesdays include Farmleigh House and Gardens – a saving of €20 on a family ticket. There’s also John F Kennedy Arboretum in Wexford, Reginald’s Tower in Waterford and north Cork’s very own Downton Abbey – Doneraile Court and Estate.
That’s Wednesday sorted at least. Heritageireland.ie has the full list of freebies.
Storm the capital
Older kids, or those with political nerd parents, can hit Government Buildings. There are free guided tours on Saturdays. There are free tours of Áras an Uachtaráin in the Phoenix Park most Saturdays too, subject to official State business of course.
Visit heritageireland.ie for info on tickets.
You could also go to court. Nope, you don’t have to wait until you’re a litigant, a witness, a juror, or heaven forfend, a victim – you can just visit and see justice in action until the end of July.
To visit a regional court, ring ahead to see what’s on and sit in the public gallery. You can visit the Four Courts in Dublin – there are few cases in summer and some will be deadly boring, but you can sit back and channel your favourite Suits character, just no selfies. Download the ‘Fourcourts100′ app for a virtual guided tour.
The Criminal Courts of Justice can be very busy and cases may be unsuitable for children.
Be a sport
For free cycling and swimming lessons, inclusive tag rugby, teen golf camps, hiking, mountain biking taster sessions, couch-to-5km programmes and more, Sport Ireland, through its Local Sports Partnerships, wants people to get active. It’s all about removing barriers to sport, including the cost. Type the name of your county and sports partnership into Facebook to find what’s on near you.
Farm them out
Farm labour was once the whole point of school holidays, right? Pupils got the long summer off to help with the harvest. The days of haymaking are long gone, but you can get in touch with your agrarian roots by taking the kids fruit picking.
This can be a cheap day out and it will teach children that food doesn’t come from the supermarket, and they’ll get some of their five a day.
At Corderry Fruit Farm near Dundalk, there’s an entrance fee of €2 per person, under-fives are free and strawberries are priced at €12 per kilo.
Lambert’s Pick Your Own Fruit Farm near Rathfarnham opens at intervals throughout the summer for raspberry and blackcurrant picking. Fruit is charged per kilo.
At Wheelock’s near Enniscorthy you’ll pay €5 to pick your own fruit, kids under 12 go free. You’ll pay €13 a kilo of strawberries picked.
Take the train
Ever wanted to head to the airport and pick the most exotic destination on the departures board? Try doing it with the train. With a family one-day rail ticket, two adults and up to four children get unlimited travel on Dart and short hop zone rail destinations for €16 – so up to six of you can travel for €2.60 each for the whole day.
Never been to Sallins? Get there from Connolly in under an hour where you can splash out on a barge trip. If it’s seaside you’re after, Dart to Bray or Greystones and you’re right at the beach. Some culture? Head to Dún Laoghaire where the DLR Lexicon library with its stocked art room for kids is just minutes walk from the Dart station.
For a rural coastal walk with older kids, get the train to Kilcoole where across the platform you can walk along the sea towards Wicklow town, or north towards Dublin.
Balbriggan, Skerries, Rush, Lusk, or Malahide – it doesn’t get more day-trippy than that. Or go long haul on an intercity service where children under five travel free.
Family Carers Ireland card
If anyone deserves a discount, it’s carers. For a subscription of €20 a year for a Family Carers Ireland card, carers can avail of free entry for adult carers and discounts at popular attractions including Beyond the Trees at Avondale, Dingle Aquarium, Blarney Castle, Fort Lucan, Kia Ora Mini Farm and the big cinema chains.
The card is available to those caring for a child or adult with an intellectual or physical disability, a spouse with a terminal illness, an ageing parent or a loved one with a mental health illness.
Heading to Emerald Park for example? Tickets for guests with additional needs are €25, that’s an €18 discount. An accompanying adult carer goes free of charge. If a second adult carer is needed, they go free, too.
With all attractions, carers should check the website or call in advance to understand any extra requirements, like photo ID.
Having to prove a disability at a busy ticket turnstile, or remind staff of a discount advertised on their website is the last thing carers need. Venues, take note.
Free culture, anyone?
There is free entry and free events at State-funded attractions throughout the summer.
For an art fix, the National Gallery of Ireland does free monthly buggy-friendly New Parents’ Tours on the second Monday of the month at 2pm.
Want to know how children dressed and played 100 years ago? See for yourself at the Way we Wore exhibition at Collins Barracks. Kids can also experience the life of a soldier in the Explore Barracks Life room. The museum has a heritage trail to help families explore the collection. The Museum Luas stop is close by.
Cheap camps
A two-day camp for €10? Check out the Children’s History Summer Camp at 14 Henrietta Street. You can add a sibling for €5 and a third sibling for free. What about the free weeklong comic book creating, film making, songwriting and fiction writing camps at the Fighting Words HQ in Dublin 1? If you’ve missed a spot this year, get on their mailing list for next year. Parents can reserve a work pod to work remotely from the Central Library nearby.
Until the Government does more, the co-ordination and cost of summer childcare is a puzzle each family has to solve for themselves.
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