‘Heartbreaking’ decision by Cavan crèche to close baby room
A Ballyconnell childcare facility is being forced to close its baby room due to staff recruitment and retention issues.
Clever Clogs Childcare Services will close for 0-3 year olds on August 23.
The facility has been providing childcare for almost two decades. Manager Paula Donohoe described the decision as “heartbreaking”.
“I’ve made the decision [to close the 0-3 service] but coming to the delivery of that decision to my staff and parents, I spent two days crying.
“I have been advocating on this [better government supports for the sector] for the past three years to no avail,” she said. Part of the problem is the low ratios of staff to children required for babies and infants that make such services unviable.
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.
There are nine members of staff working in the 0-3 service in Clever Clogs. Paula will be letting go two part-time and two full-time staff members. The others will transfer over to other areas of the service. She said services for 3-12 year olds remains “extremely strong with huge uptake”.
“They were very happy working with me,” she said.
Paula said parents availing of the service are “devastated” and she “expected the worst” when informing them that the service was closing.
“I really did expect very bad backlash but, on the opposite, I got such positive feedback from parents.”
The childcare provider is aware that some parents will opt for “black market unregistered childminders” as an alternative, adding “that’s all they can find”.
“Is that the policy we want?” she asked.
“These are wonderful people to child mind but that’s not the policy.
“The government policy at the moment is to try and get registered childminders but they’re not available.”
Paula knows of other childcare services across Cavan that will be “phasing out” their facilities for under three year olds.
“I know they are preparing plans to phase out,” she said.
“We cannot recruit and retain staff in the service,” Paula said, explaining that this is “hugely” due to low pay.
“I would say it is a government failed policy,” she said, adding that Ireland invests half that of its European counterparts per child.
“In fairness to Minister O’Gorman I do believe he’s really, really trying to improve our sector,” said Paula. However she added that Ireland’s progress in the sector is a “walk of shame”.
“That is a massive problem because, if we had double the investment, we could actually get proper pay scales and allocate proper funding.”
Staff in the sector must be highly qualified, which Paula agrees is important. However, she contends “as you attain qualification, funding must be there to meet wages”.
Currently, those working in childcare are working for a minimum of €13 per hour, while degree holders receive €15.50 per hour.
“It is not near enough,” Paula fumed.
“For a hugely responsible and professional position, they can actually go down the road to a supermarket and get maybe more for none of the responsibilities.
“At degree level they are being attracted into departmental jobs or other jobs where they have much better paying conditions and I don’t blame them,” she said.
Paula said the qualifications that are insisted upon are not being remunerated.
“We need a cross government approach, it can’t just be left to our department to constantly fight and they are fighting.”
One solution that has been offered is recruiting students who are training to work for a period of three months of the summer. “That’s not quality,” she said.
“You can’t build and form bonding relationships with babies and then say ‘bye’ and off to college.”
“That’s not a viable solution as far as I’m concerned.
“I will not stand over anything that isn’t high quality,” Paula affirmed.