Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests and thank them for the excellent, informed presentations they put before us. I welcome in particular Ms Paula Grogan Ryan, from my county, Tipperary.

I can identify with many if not all of the issues raised in the various submissions. I am a member of the board of the Elm Park child care centre in Clonmel. It is a purpose-built community child care facility with 65 places that was built about ten years ago. We provide services from the baby room through to toddlers, waddlers and up to preschool age. The staff are professional, and as we have heard in the presentations this morning, they have improved their skills at their own expense and in their own time. Despite a lot of support from the county child care committee and Pobal, we, like the services we have heard about, operate on a shoestring budget. We are under pressure on a daily basis to make ends meet. It goes back to an acceptance that early childhood education is vital for young children and that there is a huge payback for the children themselves, their families, and wider society. In monetary terms, for every €1 that is put in the return is €10. Ms Tinsley from Barnardos put it very well in her submission. She said early childhood care raises educational outcomes, enhances employability, reduces child poverty, improves health and prevents social problems. We have all said that and we all accept it, but we need to go further and properly fund the service to create the outcomes we have spoken about. We are nowhere near doing that at the moment. We are funding on the basis of 0.2% of GDP when the European average is approximately 0.7%. It is obvious that we need to increase the funding provided to child care services.

Everybody has raised special needs. It is a subject that gives rise to considerable difficulties. There are no special needs assistants and in many cases children are not even assessed. Such children can lack social skills and motor skills. Ms Reilly made the important point that initially a two-year service was provided to children with special needs and that should be reintroduced immediately. As a minimal starting point, we should seek a reversal of the cuts that took place in 2011, which were implemented on 1 January 2012.

In terms of staff training, it is important to consider non-contact time, including preparation and training, which is all being done by the service at the expense of staff and the employer in their own time. That is something that must be addressed, because it will not bring qualified professional people into the service and people will not remain if they are not properly trained and paid. In very many cases, child care professionals are being paid at hourly rates very close to the minimum wage, which is really not sustainable for the service.

A host of other issues were raised. In fact, there are so many challenges that it is difficult to identify priorities. Is there a single item that would significantly enhance the service both for the children and for the service in general?