Child care. We need adult solutions to achieve any child care nirvana.

It was one of, if not the loudest demonstration I have ever seen. Moreover, he behaved impeccably. This got me thinking about whether the Swedish model of public services is one that Ireland could ever really hope to emulate.

In terms of ambition, everyone seems to agree that the Scandinavian country is the gold standard when it comes to childcare. But in essence, these two societies have little in common.

From early life advocates to politicians, it has been made clear repeatedly in recent months as the election approaches that there are models that work, if only we had the inclination to emulate them.

Objectively, it is certainly true that the Swedish health and child care system is much more advanced than ours.

In this country, free public health care is essentially a reality, while here, almost a decade after Slaintecare’s cross-party announcement and its commitment to abolish the private model, we are no closer to achieving that goal.

In terms of how childcare works in Sweden, not a single parent I spoke to had any complaints, and any mild gripes were definitely first world problems.

In fact, there you can have a child in exclusive standard care from 7:00 to 17:00 every day for less than 200 euros per month. That’s about a third of the cost of a typical nursery in Ireland – and that’s after three years of tuition fee cuts. Childhood in Sweden is a priority for the public good.

Childcare in Ireland

In recent weeks, all of our major parties (with the exception of the Greens, the party that actually managed to cut our own fees significantly) have committed to achieving €200 a month childcare nirvana.

Sinn Féin was the first to escape the traps in September, insisting that caring for them would cost €10 a day and would cost €345 million, to be financed from Ireland’s (current) gigantic budget surplus.

Here you could see the problems arising. To achieve what Sweden has, you need both time (the current Swedish civil service system started 60 years ago) and the ability to make far-reaching, adult decisions, for lack of a better description.

The public services there are excellent, and they are also financed by high taxes. Each municipality is responsible for managing child care in its region. This responsibility does not diminish during times of recession or national emergency.

Taxes

Achieving this level of public service requires a commitment to collectively solving the problems of the entire population in the form of taxes for the common good. And if you want to do something that others don’t like—like driving in a city that already has excellent public transportation—then you’ll be expected to pay more.

I believe it is a socialist ideal that income level does not determine whether you can afford to have a child. However, objectively this is somewhat more fair.

In Ireland we love tax cuts. There’s a reason income tax cuts are tossed around like confetti at budget time: voters love them. They don’t much like the drastic cuts and austerity measures that follow when the Irish project fails with each successive generation.

But we seem willing to accept even that in exchange for a little excitement during good times.

Ireland is a non-conformist society in which we are not very good at meeting the responsibilities that would require improving everyone’s lives. And our politicians know this.

In many ways this probably makes the personality of the nation more alive than that of our Scandinavian brethren. We’re a little more crazy, a little more youthful. To be fair, our republic is much younger.

Times of austerity

But what happens, for example, in Sinn Féin’s plan if the new American administration under Donald Trump derails our foreign investment strategies, American companies flee the co-op and we are left with little or no budget surplus?

Will childcare fees go up again?

What about creating provisions for child care businesses and workers to ensure their viability if the economy takes a sharp downturn – which is quite possible in the coming years, given the trends currently being seen around the world?

What about guaranteeing people a place for their children, no matter where they live?

Providing all this costs a lot of money. Are our politicians ready to do this? Will our fellow citizens agree to this?

To truly commit to solving Ireland’s childcare problems will require something like a complete rethink of what the state’s responsibilities are to its citizens.

Somehow it seems to me that we have not yet reached our goal.