‘Love doesn’t pay the bills’

Childcare facilities across the county are on their knees as they await Budget 2024 next week and one provider in the east of the county has revealed she is on the verge of pulling the plug on her service because it simply isn’t viable.

Thousands of childcare providers across Ireland closed their doors and staged a protest outside the Dáil between September 26 and 28, to highlight their plight and demand more funding from Government. They are warning that more strikes will follow if their demands aren’t met.

In Budget 2023, the Minister allocated an additional €28 million of core funding to the sector, an 11% increase to bring the overall budget to €287 million.

One of the many protesters, Scribbles Playschool owner and manager Louise Bosch took the difficult decision to close for three days and join the protest: “We didn’t have a choice really. I’ve been trying to decide for the last few years if it’s worth it [continuing the business].

"When the Core Funding was introduced, we were delighted because we thought, ‘Jesus we’re getting the lifeline and it’s going to be good across the board for the providers, the parents and the staff and it will help us to cover costs.’ But what the Minister actually did was he took funding we already had away from us and then he gave us the funding.”

Louise explained her creche, which is located in the rural area of Cross, 10 minutes outside Virginia, was receiving two streams of funding prior to the announcement, one of which was aimed at upskilling staff members and the second was to cover admin in the facility.

“He took those two streams of funding and then he gave us Core funding, but he didn’t tell the parents that. So, when he went on television and said - ‘I’m injecting whatever amount of millions into the childcare sector’; he didn’t say ‘I’ve taken so many millions away from them’."

Louise is hopeful their voices will be heard following the recent protests. “Since we protested, he did come out on the radio and say that he admitted now that the Core funding was benefitting bigger services more than smaller services.”

Facilities are struggling with rising costs, staff retention and recruitment, strict standards and what they say is inadequate government funding.

For every three children aged 12 months and under, a minimum of one childcare professional is required as per the standard in early learning and care services in Ireland for full-day care or part-time provision.

One professional is required for every five children aged between one and two years; and every six children aged two years.

Every eight pre-school children, aged between three and six years, need one professional.

As a result of the low ratios for babies, some childcare facilities across Cavan have been forced to close their baby rooms, turning away parents with their babies as it is just not profitable to cater for them.

Louise’s voice quivered in an attempt to hold back her tears as she explained how much her business and her own health have suffered due to the insufficient funding.

“I am stressed to the hilt. I’ve been in hospital, I’m on tablets. Last year really burnt me out, I ended up in hospital in July, it was just horrendous.

“The odd time, I had to pay my staff from my husband’s wage, because we didn’t have the money [in the business]. It’s like we’re constantly ticking over. People think you have your own business, you’re loaded. It’s not the case. I think this is me at breaking point.”

The heartbroken woman revealed that she is on the brink of closing her doors for good due to the financial pressure.

“I’m 20 years here and I’ve always loved my job, always loved it. This is the first year that I’ve contemplated closing. Some people say ‘aw you should have waited until the protest’ or ‘you should have waited for the Budget, give them a couple of years to settle’ but how long do you struggle on for?

“It’s me that’s struggling. The girls are sorted now, they’re getting their full wages every week. The parents are sorted, they have two or three schemes to pick from and they’re well looked after, but the provider is just being walked on and we’ve no choice but to take it,” revealed an emotional Louise.

Even if she did close, debts from the business mean Louise will still be out of pocket.

“It’s not sufficient for me to earn a wage, I don’t know where I’m going to go. My husband is due to retire in a few years and I’m not going to be able to keep the family going with the money that comes in from the school. I feel, even if I do close up, there’s going to be three or four years before I stop paying anything for the business.”

The owner explains how she had to call Revenue recently, requesting permission to pay her PRSI in pieces, rather than monthly due to her lack of funds.

The situation, she believes, is made worse by the Minister’s decision to strip the sector from their title as an educational facility.

“The Minister for Children took away our educational title and he won’t address us as early educators any more. He addresses us as early years practitioners. He doesn’t see us as an educational facility, so why are we being inspected by the Department of Education? That’s a question we’ve put to him many times and he will not give us an answer. That’s one thing we’re looking for, the reinstatement of our education title.”

Concluding her interview with sadness ringing through her voice, Louise said: “As someone said at the protest, love doesn’t pay the bills. Loving your job and loving the families, it doesn’t pay and you can only do it for so long.” Paula Donohoe of Clever Clogs Childcare in Ballyconnell has been a driving force behind Early Years Practitioners in Cavan’s request for more funding, and one of the organisers of a recent public meeting on the issue in the Hotel Kilmore.

However, Paula decided to keep her premises open during last week’s three-day strike but warns she will take to the picket line if the Government doesn’t deliver next week.

“I am 100 percent behind what they did but we wanted to see what the Budget would do. I’ve been fighting very very hard for funding for the sector, and we are continuing to claim that our Department is not listening. There have been a lot of political meetings going on recently that we had hoped would put enough pressure on the Department to make up the shortfalls that we are crying about in the forthcoming Budget. In the event that the Budget doesn’t actually address the issues that we’ve raised, I would be out for four days, no problem.”

Paula has warned parents if Budget 2024 does not deliver good news, the risk of further strikes are were high.

“We wrote a letter to the parents and asked them to back us up by writing to local TDs and the Minister expressing concerns about funding for their childcare services. I have put them on warning that, in the event the Budget does not help to redress the lack of funding in the sector, well then we would have to consider our position and would look to close.”