Ms Elaine Dunne:

Last year we did a survey of 1,193 providers. It showed that 260 have closed their doors. We recently ran a quick survey, last week, and 669 answered of whom 125 will close their doors in June. They have all notified parents. These are mainly in rural Ireland. A few are in urban areas. In the past 48 hours we have seen one of the large chains put out a document to parents stating that it is no longer taking in part-time, ECCE or after-school children. It only wants full-time children, displacing many children in Dublin alone. We have a huge problem in Dublin now. We cannot take these children on. There are massive waiting lists throughout the country. Core funding is closing down these services. It has failed many small providers. Only large services gained, unfortunately. Realistically, right now, we need the Government to step in to keep these services open and allow them to take in more than 22 children at a time. Legislation has guided that they can only take 22. They have rooms that can fit 35. It is the same in Dublin. We need to be allowed to take in more children to help the parents. If they are in rural Ireland and those services close down, those parents are out of work. There is no hope for them at all.