Mr. Darragh O'Connor:

Ms Reynolds might wish to come in on this as well but I will comment briefly. The Deputy is correct; everybody is getting a raw deal. Pay is obviously a top concern for our union but for many of our members, in early years and outside it, the cost is a big problem, as is accessibility. The truth is there is a market system in Ireland that is the basis of how childcare has evolved. In general, State money that is invested can be used either to improve pay and quality or to reduce fees. Providers are put in a terrible position of trying to strike a balance between those two policy objectives but they need to be separated out. Our point is there should be dedicated funding lines, particularly for pay, which would reduce outgoings for providers, allow for lower fees and put that regulation on wages in order that people will be properly rewarded. That kind of demarketisation would mean the current providers, private and community, would have a key role to play but in a kind of a partnership with the State.

My greatest fear is that if we take a hands-off approach, we will end up in the space that can be seen in the UK, the US and New Zealand, where there is a financialisation of the early years sector. It is not the little playschool down the road but internationally backed investment funds, which see this as an opportunity and are concerned only about the rate of return. What happens in all those countries is that there will be, embedded and almost impossible to reverse, a small number of very powerful providers - multinationals, in some cases. The high fees and low pay are embedded and it is very difficult to get out of it.

We are certainly at a crossroads. The new funding model has very eminent people on it and we have not seen the details of it. We hope it will address these concerns and we have raised them with those people but we are at a crossroads as to what type of sector we want. Do we want an industry for private finance to be able to make a good rate of return or a profession of which providers and people working on the ground, that is, the professionals themselves, can be proud?