Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has been attacked for suggesting that childcare costs will have to be taken into 
account in insolvency arrangements if the outlay exceeds income and is preventing parents from making mortgage repayments.
The National Council of Women of Ireland described his remarks as “extremely anti-women and anti-children”.
They added that his comments went against Government policies to promote employment and gender equality, The Irish Independent reports.
Dublin West TD Patrick Nulty said Mr Varadkar should immediately withdraw his “insensitive remarks”.
“Why Minister Varadkar seems to have targeted women in particular is shocking. We already have wage inequality between men and women because our society is not family friendly,” he added.
The Minister was referring to new guidelines from the Insolvency Service of Ireland which will outline the income limits and living standards considered reasonable for a person seeking to renegotiate mortgages. The guidelines are due to be published after Easter.
They state: “Where a person is working and paying for childcare as a consequence of his or her employment, the cost of childcare should not exceed the income from the employment.”
Mr Varadkar insisted nobody would be asked to give up their job under guidelines for families struggling with debt but admitted the new personal insolvency regime would look at childminding bills in certain cases.
“I know one or two women . . . who probably don’t make very much money at all from working but they do it to keep their position on the career ladder, if you like,” he said.
“That’s a legitimate thing to do but if you can’t pay your mortgage as a result or you can’t buy your groceries as a result well then that’s something that needs to be taken into account in any insolvency arrangement.”
Mr Varadkar said the incoming insolvency scheme had to be fair to the approximately 90 per cent of people who were continuing to meet their mortgage debts, and stressed many were making very big sacrifices in order to pay their bills.
He said he did not know how many cases there were of a person’s childcare bills exceeding what they are earning at work.
“But I think if somebody is in that position whereby they’re actually losing money, it’s costing them money to work and as a result they can’t pay their mortgage, well then that is something that needs to be taken into account in any kind of insolvency regime.”