Parents caught in a ‘Catch-22’ on childcare

The council is to write to the Minister for Children, Roderic O’Gorman, to ask him to outline his Department’s plans regarding childcare and to ensure that they support service providers nationwide.

Fianna Fáil’s Áine Smith told the October monthly meeting of Cavan County Council that there is “no doubt about” the heightened “emotional toll” the current childcare shortage is having on families now left with “nowhere to turn”.

The closure of baby rooms, in some instances, has meant that those looking to return to work face “no other choice but to defer” in order to care for their babies.

“Parents are incredibly stressed. I have had many calls and emails regarding this issue. Parents are caught in a Catch-22 situation,” said Cllr Smith, who said that she spoke with one woman who cried down the phone to her because she had tried 16 crèches within a 50km radius of her home and “none of them had a place” for her child.

Childcare providers too are concerned about the level of core funding being provided to the sector and argue that the level of support needs to be raised in line with inflation.

“Nothing is the same price as in 2017. Everything has gone up from heating right down to arts and crafts materials. Places are being taken away from children as more creches and pre-schools close down.

“The Government must realise that childcare is an important part of our educational system today and they are also businesses that have to meet their outgoings. The Department of Children have failed to take into consideration the heating and lighting costs, not to mention the pension contribution that employers are expected to pay.”

Another difficulty highlighted to Cllr Smith, is the difficulty childcare providers are having trying to recruit staff.

The staff crisis, she noted, is “very real”.

“Childcare workers should be on better money, but the providers can’t pay them, simply because they are not getting the funding. Providers are curtailed in raising their prices so they can’t deal with this situation themselves by adjusting fees to pay them better.”

Cllr Smith though acknowledged that there has been a “substantial increase” in government funding for the childcare sector in recent years. The government introduced National Childcare Scheme has reduced costs for most parents and “that was necessary and welcome”.

Yet providers “still remain under financial pressure”, Cllr Smith told her fellow elected members. “There is no doubt that the budget contained benefits for the parents who use the services, but there is an overall lack of vision on the future of early childhood education and care.”

She welcomed supports for parents in the Budget. “There’s a lot there for them including the reduction in fees under the National Childcare Scheme and other benefits for young, new parents.”

But from a provider’s point of view, there are “challenges”, including a potential loss of qualified staff by the recruitment of a further 1,600 SNAs set to benefit from the public-sector pay deal.

Others issues she highlighted include the planned increase in the minimum wage and the auto-enrolment pension plan, which commences in 2025 - “all while childcare centres under the core-funding model operate with a fee freeze”.

Under the budget, investment in early learning and childcare increased to nearly €1.4 billion – including a 44% increase to the National Childcare Scheme, Cllr Smith also accepted.

But at present she pointed out how the sector is struggling to provide those additional childcare places and retain the staff they have, and voiced concern about a lack of reference to any increase or review of core funding in budget speeches.

Cllr Smith concluded by saying that all parents depend on their local childcare providers.

“The economy depends on them, if we want a workforce that go back to work after maternity or paternity leave then the Government need to help our providers. There is no denying that parents are being looked after and this is hugely welcome, but we need to look after both sides of the equation. If the Minister ignores these pleas from our childcare providers, then we will see more closures. Childcare is important for parents and particularly for child development.”

Aontú’s Sarah O’Reilly supported the motion. “It’s easy to spent other people’s money,” she said of the budget, and said that it was a “sad reality” that both parents often had to work in Ireland in order to make ends meet.

To that effect, she proposed a scheme of supporting families who opt to remain in care of their children.

She also challenged the government’s position as a majority stakeholder in the ESB, especially considering that the cost of utilities is a major factor for childcare providers. “They could do something but they don’t.”

Fine Gael’s Trevor Smith also backed the motion, stating that there is a “huge demand” for local crèche services in his area.