Ms Paula Hilliard:

I am an owner-operator of a small service so a lot of the questions posed are real and alive for me at the moment.

In respect of wages, I have a small number of staff to whom I pay the minimum wage. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to pay anything more than the minimum wage. My staff give a lot of extra time that they are not paid for and I mean a lot of non-contact time. As an owner-operator running a small business I often forego a salary because I am not in a position to pay myself. I am a mother of two children and must provide for a family so that incorporates me taking an outside job. I provide a sessional service so I do not work for the summer and, therefore, I take on a summer job in order to keep things afloat. I also tutor part-time so I have evening and weekend work throughout the year. That is the only way I can keep my family afloat because I make nothing and when I do it is often re-invested into my small business.

One of the things that make life difficult for me is rent. Recently I became ECCE-only because I cannot afford to pay commercial rates. My service is located in a small town. I might mind three or four children and their parents pay €5 an hour. The sums do not add up enough for me to pay commercial rates. The situation has pushed me into providing an ECCE-only service, which disappoints me as a Montessori teacher. I must focus on the ECCE year or the year before a child goes to school, which goes against the grain because the Montessori method focuses on children aged three to six and, therefore, I should incorporate the wider age range and have children learn from each other.

In terms of continual personal development, we are constantly upgrading and working. We must meet requirements all of the time like first aid, manual handling and fire safety. We are the only service in my county at the moment that has been placed on the link programme. That is another area that we are considering and training in. I have also just begun a masters programme. The link programme is great but the funding for the rest of the training has come out of the small pot of money generated by my service. We love our work and are passionate about it but we are not surviving and that makes life difficult for us.

I hope I have answered the questions.