Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the officials, particularly Dr. Brooks, for their engagement over the last number of years. One of the big problems in childcare is that change is not happening fast enough for parents and providers. I know there are to challenges to change but when the Department says year 3, I echo Deputy Dillon's view that there are providers who do not believe that they will be in business in year 3. Having a plan for them is not okay.

Since 4 p.m. yesterday, I have received well in excess of 180 emails from childcare providers all around the country. These are not cut-and-paste messages or copies. They are individual expressions of the challenges providers have. This is unprecedented. The childcare sector is notoriously under-resourced as regards its ability to access computers, given the sheer complexity of the day in the sector. For providers to sit down and write their individual stories tells me there is a problem, regardless of the very good news. There has been very good news since the budget of last year at least. However, there are real challenges that appear to be going unheard. "Disheartened" and "stressed" are words consistently used when I have meetings with childcare providers. I wonder if the administrative requirements have been road-tested. Are they road-tested by people who do not know that anything can crop up on any day? I have managed a service. My colleague in my office has been part of the inspectorate over the years. People can decide, with the best of intentions, to do three hours of administration on a day but may not get to it. The administrative burdens in childcare are very high. Providers need a dedicated administrator and smaller services should have access to people who will provide such a service for them.

On the chart of accounts, I hear the point that it is merely a trial balance but, given the alignment of the years, from September 2022 to August 2023, and that the deadline is January 2024, a lot of people do not have the competencies to pull this off their system and they have to engage an accountant to do it. There is a cost to that and there should be some reimbursement of that cost. There should be some recognition of it. One of the arguments coming across is that the annual early years sector returns should have sufficient information to extract what is necessary for the reporting and the objectivity of this.

Regarding the sustainability fund, I have gone back over notes I received when going on media and I have sought advices. The sustainability fund was flagged to me in all briefings going back to last year's budget. They indicated that if there are challenges, this would be the fact. The reality on the ground is that it is of absolutely no use to people because the reputational damage caused by accessing funding, if a provider accesses the sustainability fund, pretty much puts it out of any private financing. That came across really strongly last week. Another mechanism has to be found to make up for the fact that there is clear inequity there and that some services have not raised their fees since 2017. They did the right thing and tried to balance the books. They then found themselves using the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, which was a fantastic response. It was brilliant, and I congratulate the Department on its quick response and everything that was done during Covid-19. As a consequence, however, providers are experiencing real hardship. That has to be responded to more quickly.

Then we have the whole capital grant issue. I do not know how many times this year I have asked when that capital grant is going to be released. There is one service in Cherry Orchard, the community crèche, which is fantastic but it has 186 children on a waiting list. It has planning permission. It has been in a five-year process and is waiting on the announcement of capital funding for its extension. It is an exemplary service that holds onto its staff because it is so good. It implements high scope and does everything that should be done right but it cannot move on with this because it is waiting. It is providing in area that has the highest deprivation score in the country. The need for children to be engaged in childcare in the area is very high, yet there is this sense on the outside that it is all moving far too slowly. I know that on the inside, the Department works very diligently, and I know that Dr. Brooks in particular is very passionate about this. We have to marry these two things up and deal with the issue.

When we talk about evolving the payments, we have to make sure more providers are opening up and the sector is becoming an attractive place to go. There is, however, a narrative in the media and real-life experience. Childcare providers do not come out and protest in the manner in which we have seen unless there are very real issues. I was behind some of the protests going back to the beginning of the early childhood care and education, ECCE, scheme in working with childcare providers. They feared what would happen and there ways and workarounds on that. I need to say to the witnesses all the things that are coming through and reflect what is being said in all of these emails.