Fine Gael will publish its policy on children, including a plan to deliver a permanent double child benefit.
The party recommends this is delivered in the month of August, to assist families facing back-to-school expenses.
The policy, entitled 'Giving our children the best start in life', also calls for the introduction of a Pay-Related Parents' Benefit.
This would envisage the rate of parents' benefit to be more closely aligned to a mother or father’s income in an effort to encourage them to spend valuable time with their newborn children.
Fine Gael will commit to capping childcare costs at €200 per month per child, or €600 for a family with more than three children.
There will also be a commitment to expanding the Hot School Meals Programme to every single school.
There is a promise to strengthen Tusla’s child protection powers as well as provide comprehensive measures for online safety.
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The policy also calls for creating 30,000 places in public early learning and school aged care services - beginning with at least 100 new services in the first two years of Government.
Other measures include providing an extra hour of free preschool in the second year of the ECCE programme; extending the National Childcare Scheme subsidies to all childminders to benefit from new monthly caps; and give every newborn and their parents a baby bundle.
The policy will be launched today by the party’s deputy leader Helen McEntee, and Fine Gael’s childcare spokesperson Neale Richmond, as well as Senators Mary Seery Kearney and Emer Currie.
