Labour pledges public childcare, more State supports

A public childcare scheme and a full year of paid parental leave are among the key policies in the Labour Party manifesto.

The party said there is an appetite for what it calls a message of "positive change", which only it can offer.

It pledged at least 30,000 public childcare places, with additional capital funding to build public crèches beside schools.

It would also take over from existing private providers if an operator decides to close their service.

Labour is promising a full year of parental leave and said it will introduce pay-related maternity leave.

It is also proposing a second targeted child benefit payment, which it said would drastically reduce child poverty.

As part of its "deal for working people", it pledges to ban unpaid internships and to abolish the lower rates of minimum wage that apply to young people.

It would ensure the national living wage was set at 60% of the median hourly earnings and a strengthening of gender pay gap rules to ensure employers also include part-time workers.

On housing, the party has proposed a State construction company using €6 billion of Apple tax money, a rent freeze and the development of vacant HSE property to house key healthcare workers.

Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik said voters have a choice on polling day on how the power and resources of the State is used.

"While other parties seem intent on turning this election into a politics panto, we want to focus on what the State can achieve for people. The people of Ireland deserve a better deal than what's been on offer over the past five years.

"We are clear, a vote for Labour is a vote for an active State that intervenes to protect you when you’re sick, that builds the homes we need, that educates our children, and supports those at work."

Ms Bacik said a Fine Gael proposal for a so-called 'acorn scheme' saving account for newborn babies was a gimmick - especially, she said, when there were 4,500 children homeless and 250,000 children living in deprivation.

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The party would "ensure" the resources are there "to deliver better public services by transforming the State and managing the economy well", Labour Party candidate Ged Nash said.

"We will introduce an infrastructure unit with a mandate to address blockages and delays in large projects," he said.