Social Europe

  • EU Forward Project
  • YouTube
  • Podcast
  • Books
  • Newsletter
  • Membership

New Deal For Irish Families

Stephan Köppe 10th July 2018

Stephan Köppe

Stephan Köppe

With the repeal of the 8th amendment Irish women and their partners will have a choice if and when to have children later this year. This choice will have major implications for social policy and the development of a family-friendly welfare state in Ireland. From my own experience Irish people are extremely child-friendly but Ireland as a country offers little support to families. It will be the first time that women will make these choices on this island, so services and income protection will have to be attractive for families.

While the marriage equality referendum came cheap with no effect on social spending, family services will require substantial public commitments. Right after the referendum this was also acknowledged by the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, when he promised “to make Ireland a better place to raise a family”. This is a major challenge: Families are largely left alone and receive little public support.

But how does Ireland fare compared to similar advanced economies on public support or families?

Ireland has relatively high public spending on family benefits, but mainly in cash transfers such as child benefit and lone parent payments. In contrast, spending on services is relatively low. For instance, public spending on childcare is at 0.5 percent of GDP. Ireland would have to spend three times more to catch up to front-runners like Sweden or Denmark. And not to mention lack of public investment in other basic social services such as housing and health that are crucial for a happy family life.

What are the effects of these spending patterns on families?

Ireland has, despite significant cash transfers, a very high child poverty rate at 27 percent, belonging to the bottom third in the EU on this indicator. On average enrolment rates in formal childcare almost achieve the European target of one-third but these are highly stratified. Children from a poor and disadvantaged background have less access to childcare, depriving them of educational and social opportunities for their entire life.

Moreover, Irish families are faced with one of the highest childcare costs in Europe. The fees for two children attending full-time childcare are at about 50% of gross average wage. After taxes and expenses for work, working women hardly break even on average wages. For lower income earners and in particular lone parents, work without childcare subsidies is a net loss.



Don't miss out on cutting-edge thinking.


Join tens of thousands of informed readers and stay ahead with our insightful content. It's free.



Related to these high childcare costs, the maternal employment rate in Ireland is low. For women, it is a choice between continuing a career or being a mother. Compared to continental neighbours like Denmark or Germany, about 20 or 10 percent of mothers drop out of the labour market, respectively. The only silver lining is that compared to Germany a relative high share engages in full-time work.

koppe graph01

Source: OECD 2018, LMF1.2.A
Notes: DK 2012, DE 2013, IE 2014; those with no information on hours not displayed and below 1% in all cases

Finally, fathers have little opportunities to be involved in child rearing. With the introduction of paternity benefit in 2016, we see now about 50% of new fathers taking leave. Yet, it also means the other half continuing to work in a crucial period of family formation. Low statutory wage replacement rates make it hard for fathers to take leave, when the family depends on their income as we know from the low maternal employment rates. Moreover, parental leave is limited to two weeks, whereas other countries like Germany offer two months at two-thirds of previous salary solely reserved for fathers.

Back in 2012, when Ireland had no paid paternity or parental leave, already 30 percent of respondents said that leave should be evenly split between parents. Again, an indication that attitudes in Ireland are much more modern than the institutions and politicians that govern such family choices. The abortion referendum has revealed that attitudes in modern Ireland seem socially much more progressive than the dominant parties and their policies would suggest. Germany showed how a centre-right party like the CDU could introduce a major expansion of parental leave and childcare provision within a decade. Ireland’s political system is dominated by centre-right parties and conservative policy development (including Sinn Fein despite its much more liberal rhetoric). Yet, a progressive family policy agenda has held Angela Merkel in government for more than a decade and could be a model for Varadkar and his Fine Gael party.

Real choices for mothers and their partners requires a social investment state that supports families throughout their life course. Ireland has to invest much more in services, but also put more into benefits at key life stages, otherwise women will face these hard decisions between founding a family and continuing their career. Moreover, women don’t want to raise their children alone, they want supportive fathers and not only for two weeks. In essence, Ireland requires a New Deal for Families to make it a society that truly welcomes and supports families.

Stephan Köppe

Dr Stephan Köppe is Assistant Professor of Social Policy at University College Dublin. While teaching comparative social policy, his research focusses on marketisation and privatisation of welfare schemes and services. Inter alia this covers private pensions, school choice, housing wealth and intergenerational transfers.

Harvard University Press Advertisement

Social Europe Ad - Promoting European social policies

We need your help.

Support Social Europe for less than €5 per month and help keep our content freely accessible to everyone. Your support empowers independent publishing and drives the conversations that matter. Thank you very much!

Social Europe Membership

Click here to become a member

Most Recent Articles

u4219834dafae1dc3 2 EU’s New Fiscal Rules: Balancing Budgets with Green and Digital AmbitionsPhilipp Heimberger
u42198346d1f0048 1 The Dangerous Metaphor of Unemployment “Scarring”Tom Boland and Ray Griffin
u4219834675 4ff1 998a 404323c89144 1 Why Progressive Governments Keep Failing — And How to Finally Win Back VotersMariana Mazzucato
u42198346ec 111f 473a 80ad b5d0688fffe9 1 A Transatlantic Reckoning: Why Europe Needs a New Pact Beyond Defence SpendingChristophe Sente
u4219834671f 3 Trade Unions Resist EU Bid to Weaken Corporate Sustainability LawsSocial Europe

Most Popular Articles

u4219834647f 0894ae7ca865 3 Europe’s Businesses Face a Quiet Takeover as US Investors CapitaliseTej Gonza and Timothée Duverger
u4219834674930082ba55 0 Portugal’s Political Earthquake: Centrist Grip Crumbles, Right AscendsEmanuel Ferreira
u421983467e58be8 81f2 4326 80f2 d452cfe9031e 1 “The Universities Are the Enemy”: Why Europe Must Act NowBartosz Rydliński
u42198346761805ea24 2 Trump’s ‘Golden Era’ Fades as European Allies Face Harsh New RealityFerenc Németh and Peter Kreko
startupsgovernment e1744799195663 Governments Are Not StartupsMariana Mazzucato
u421986cbef 2549 4e0c b6c4 b5bb01362b52 0 American SuicideJoschka Fischer
u42198346769d6584 1580 41fe 8c7d 3b9398aa5ec5 1 Why Trump Keeps Winning: The Truth No One AdmitsBo Rothstein
u421983467 a350a084 b098 4970 9834 739dc11b73a5 1 America Is About to Become the Next BrexitJ Bradford DeLong
u4219834676ba1b3a2 b4e1 4c79 960b 6770c60533fa 1 The End of the ‘West’ and Europe’s FutureGuillaume Duval
u421983462e c2ec 4dd2 90a4 b9cfb6856465 1 The Transatlantic Alliance Is Dying—What Comes Next for Europe?Frank Hoffer

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

Spring Issues

The Summer issue of The Progressive Post is out!


It is time to take action and to forge a path towards a Socialist renewal.


European Socialists struggle to balance their responsibilities with the need to take bold positions and actions in the face of many major crises, while far-right political parties are increasingly gaining ground. Against this background, we offer European progressive forces food for thought on projecting themselves into the future.


Among this issue’s highlights, we discuss the transformative power of European Social Democracy, examine the far right’s efforts to redesign education systems to serve its own political agenda and highlight the growing threat of anti-gender movements to LGBTIQ+ rights – among other pressing topics.

READ THE MAGAZINE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI Report

WSI Minimum Wage Report 2025

The trend towards significant nominal minimum wage increases is continuing this year. In view of falling inflation rates, this translates into a sizeable increase in purchasing power for minimum wage earners in most European countries. The background to this is the implementation of the European Minimum Wage Directive, which has led to a reorientation of minimum wage policy in many countries and is thus boosting the dynamics of minimum wages. Most EU countries are now following the reference values for adequate minimum wages enshrined in the directive, which are 60% of the median wage or 50 % of the average wage. However, for Germany, a structural increase is still necessary to make progress towards an adequate minimum wage.

DOWNLOAD HERE

S&D Group in the European Parliament advertisement

Cohesion Policy

S&D Position Paper on Cohesion Policy post-2027: a resilient future for European territorial equity

Cohesion Policy aims to promote harmonious development and reduce economic, social and territorial disparities between the regions of the Union, and the backwardness of the least favoured regions with a particular focus on rural areas, areas affected by industrial transition and regions suffering from severe and permanent natural or demographic handicaps, such as outermost regions, regions with very low population density, islands, cross-border and mountain regions.

READ THE FULL POSITION PAPER HERE

ETUI advertisement

HESA Magazine Cover

With a comprehensive set of relevant indicators, presented in 85 graphs and tables, the 2025 Benchmarking Working Europe report examines how EU policies can reconcile economic, social and environmental goals to ensure long-term competitiveness. Considered a key reference, this publication is an invaluable resource for supporting European social dialogue.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Eurofound advertisement

Ageing workforce
The evolution of working conditions in Europe

This episode of Eurofound Talks examines the evolving landscape of European working conditions, situated at the nexus of profound technological transformation.

Mary McCaughey speaks with Barbara Gerstenberger, Eurofound's Head of Unit for Working Life, who leverages insights from the 35-year history of the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS).

Listen to the episode for free. Also make sure to subscribe to Eurofound Talks so you don’t miss an episode!

LISTEN NOW

Social Europe

Our Mission

Team

Article Submission

Advertisements

Membership

Social Europe Archives

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Miscellaneous

RSS Feed

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

BlueskyXWhatsApp