More accessible and affordable childcare options for parents will be promised in a framework for government document that has been agreed by negotiating teams from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
The document, which is expected to be signed off on by the two party leaders tomorrow, contains a number of "missions" and is aimed at drawing in smaller parties for talks on government formation.
Drafts of the document refer to a new "social contract" which will include promises around childcare, quality of life and a living wage.
It is understood that it would open the pathway for the next government to pilot a community childcare model.
This would act as a "conversation starter" around the possibility of public childcare model, which was promised in a number of parties' election manifestos.
It also sets a target for a "living wage". While the document does not mention a figure, both the Labour Party and the Social Democrats, who the bigger parties want to lure in to government talks, have promised to increase the current minimum wage to €12.30 an hour.
The document is also expected to have a section aimed at addressing the concerns among younger voters - a cohort that the parties believe have felt ignored. It would include measures that would see no further increases in college fees.
The document will have a mission centred around housing, with a target for more affordable housing schemes for first time buyers, as well as offering more security for renters and the constriction of more social housing through the Land Development Agency.
Rebuilding the economy in the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis will be a significant focus of the document. It will contain a commitment to develop a National Recovery Plan - something that will be published at a later stage - and outline some of the the issues that need to be addressed in that plan, while signalling some of the policies it will contain.
These are likely to include State interventions to help small businesses to get back up and running again, as well as commitments around income supports and a "living wage". The document will not, however, outline specifics on tax or spending measures such as, for example, a VAT reduction for the hospitality sector. These issues would be addressed in the National Recovery Plan itself.
It is also expected to include a willingness to achieve further cuts to carbon emissions. While it does not specify a target, those involved in the talks hope it will be enough to open the door for negotiations with the Green Party, whose stated emissions reduction target is 7%.
Sources involved in the talks described the document as being not too prescriptive, but leaving enough opportunity for the smaller parties to "fill in the gaps". It was also described as a shift for the two bigger parties.
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