A poll conducted by website MummyPages.ie and RecruitIreland.com looks at the attitude of mothers towards childcare. Media coverage of the poll focused on the finding that 45 percent of mothers said the cost of childcare prevented them returning to work. This would indicate a clamour for State-subsidised childcare. In fact, the findings of the poll were much less straightforward than that.

For example, while the poll found that 95 percent of respondents think “the Government should introduce a childcare tax credit for working parents in the next Budget”, 44 percent of mothers said “they wouldn’t return to work if they didn’t have to”, and 77 percent said they “return to work after baby because of financial necessity”. Only 13 percent of mothers who took part in the poll felt ready to go back to work.

These findings seem to completely contradict the finding that almost half of mothers said the cost of childcare prevented them returning to work.  If 77 percent said they returned to work only because of financial necessity then how can 45 percent say the cost of childcare stood in the way of their returning to work?

Unfortunately we don’t get to see the questions asked in the poll. This might help to solve the apparent contradictions.

However, if you ask people whether they think childcare should be cheaper, they are obviously going to say ‘yes’.

On the other hand, if you ask them whether the State should also support the decision to look after your child at home, people will almost  certainly say ‘yes’ to that as well.

So much depends on the questions you ask. With regard to State policy towards childcare, the State should be neutral between homecare and daycare. It should favour neither and leave it up to parents as much as possible to come to their own childcare decisions.