Call for consideration of childcare support in Budget 2019

As Finance Minister, Pascal Donohoe, puts the final touches to Budget 2019 all eyes are on the Department to see how Budget 2019 will be shaped on October 9. Fuel prices, the hospitality industry's VAT rate, tackling homelessness and assisting first time homebuyers are all identified as areas that will come under the spotlight in the Minister's budget for the coming year.

Last week childcare professionals in Cavan met with local elected representatives to highlight what they describe as the “gross underfunding” of the childcare sector. An ESRI report published in September said the high cost of childcare is keeping women out of the workforce. The report said parents with one child aged three typically spend 12% of their income on childcare.

Paula Donohoe of the Clever Clogs Montessori & Daycare in Ballyconnell says addressing the problem is simply a matter of mathematics: “Ireland has traditionally grossly underfunded this sector leaving us in the position we are in today. Ireland’s spend on childcare amounts to approximately 0.2% of GDP. The European average is 0.7% and UNICEF recommends a spend of at least 1%. We are sitting at the very bottom of the league tables, which explains why childcare becomes such a massive cost to families.”

Paula says parents point to the “crippling costs” of childcare, particularly when it comes to multiple children: “Providers struggle meet the high-quality standards they all strive to achieve in childcare against the backdrop of a minimal budget. The sector is in crisis, we struggle to provide affordable childcare to parents, provide high quality settings for the children, and try to retain staff on extremely low wages,” the owner and manager of Clever Clogs Montessori & Daycare said.

The childcare provider points to an exodus of young qualified people out of the childcare industry: “The wages are not there to provide them with a reasonable standard of living. Providers are grappling with a situation where staff are not available to fill vacant posts, thus making it impossible to run their businesses.”

September saw the first rise in the ECCE funding to crèches since the programme's inception. Paula says the 7.5% increase does not go near reversing the trend and attract young people into the industry.

This is echoed by fellow childcare professional Anne Clarke: “We need a massive investment in the childcare budget, so we can offer parents more affordable childcare, begin to offer providers the much-needed stability in their industry and attract people back into the sector workforce. Until this is provided, we will continue to face a crisis,” said the owner of Playaways crèche, Cavan

For childcare practitioner Margaret Dolan difficult it is for her on her wages “I am a lone parent and have two boys, one has just entered third level education. I have had to take on students in my home, just to survive and even with that it's a struggle.”

Teresa Thompson, an Organiser with SIPTU’s ‘Big Start’ Campaign said the aim of the campaign is to bring the stories of providers and educators to the attention of the political representatives: “We need to continue to build awareness amongst the public and the political establishment on just how critical the crisis in childcare really is.

“Childcare must be made a political priority as opposed to be continually undermined and under-funded. We gathered local representatives in Cavan who listened attentively to all of the issues facing those in the sector and all unanimously agreed to call on the government for a substantially increased childcare budget,” Ms Thompson concluded.