Sinn Féin spokesperson on Education and Youth, Darren O’Rourke TD, has called for the government to treat the issue of childcare and early years education with seriousness, highlighting the need for significant investment in the sector in this year’s budget. Figures released by Early Childcare Ireland show that 1,745 children under the age of 3 are on waiting lists.
Deputy O’Rourke said this is a crisis that is affecting thousands of families right across the state, and added that if we do not see any major changes in the funding of this sector, the problem will continue to worsen. Teachta O’Rourke said: “The shocking statistic that 40,000 children are stuck on lengthy crèche waiting lists is a damning indictment of this government’s failure to grasp the scale of the childcare crisis. In Meath, 1,745 children under the age of 3 are waiting.
“Behind these staggering numbers are thousands of parents, predominantly women, unable to return to work, and thousands of children being denied access to the vital early learning that they should have.
“In Meath, there are 289 children under the age of on on waiting lists with just three places currently available; 767 children aged 1 to 2 on waiting lists with 16 places available, and 689 children aged 2 to 3 with 176 places available to them. It is clear that demand significantly outstrips supply.
“One of the contributing factors to this issue is that of pay and conditions for our early year’s educators and staff. Every year the early years education sector loses talented and good people due to poor pay and conditions. The early years education sector has faced years of neglect, the compensation for staff falls short of the professional wages needed to retain qualified staff.
“I commend the advocacy organisation, Early Childhood Ireland, in their efforts to urge this government to increase the pay and conditions for early years and school age care graduates. This is one of the major concerns that must be addressed in this year’s budget, particularly if Minister Foley wants to retain such valuable educators and staff while also reducing the number of children on waiting lists for a crèche place.
“The government cannot step back and ignore this problem or continue to push the blame onto individual providers. It has rightly been said that the government is the primary funder of the sector. The issues of losing staff and not having capacity in crèches is not isolated to one town or village, it is presenting itself across the county and across the state. There must be a change of attitude from government in their approach to resolving this issue.
“I urge Minister Foley and the government to take this issue seriously and work with all stakeholders to significantly increase funding in this year’s budget to allow for the retention and recruitment of early years educators and staff, to increase capacity to meet the demand, and crucially to reduce the shocking number of children sitting on waiting lists – in Meath and across the state.”
