On May 26, The Iona Institute is hosting a conference called ‘Women, home and work: towards a policy that’s fair to all families’. One of the speakers will be Jonas Himmelstrand of The Mireja Institute in Sweden who will speak about family policy in Sweden, especially its much lauded childcare system.

Jonas was recently in Canada, addressing the same topic at a conference there. He wrote about childcare in his native Sweden for The National Post in Canada.

As he points out, childcare in Sweden is heavily subsidised and is available to all. Almost all children between the ages of 18 months and five years old are in childcare, but as Jonas reveals, this is presenting Sweden with a number of growing social problems meaning it is not quite the panacea policy-makers in other countries believe.

His article is worth a read. Also, if you are interested in attending our conference later this month, please email us on info@ionainstitute.ie