Ms Marian Quinn:

On educators not being able to get a mortgage, some are very far from a mortgage, as they are earning barely more than poverty wages. They cannot afford rent, not to mind a mortgage, and that is a significant issue for them. I work in Munster Technological University and teach on the degree for early years educators. We find people are going into the sector, maybe staying in it for a couple of years to get a bit of experience and then they are gone. It is brilliant for primary education because it benefits when they do go into that sector, but many of them are going abroad. It is great for them to gain travel experience but many are going because they definitely cannot afford to start a family. We hear about them going abroad so they can bring some money back and will maybe have an option of starting a family. It is very problematic when people need to make family decisions because they will not be able to afford to have children. That is the reality.

On providing food in primary schools, that scheme is brilliant. There was a pilot version of that in the early years sector but we do not know where it is going or when it will go anywhere. As part of that, there was targeted funding for services, especially those in areas of significant disadvantage and marginalisation. They were able to provide food for children but some of the targeted funding stopped. While we are waiting for the roll-out of the equal participation model, children who were getting food are no longer getting it because the services cannot afford to give them food. We have lost some stuff over the last few years on the journey towards something that is supposed to be better, but we do not know when it will be here. In the meantime, those children and the families are struggling.