Ms Sonya Duggan:

First, we have had very few increases in the previous 13 years. This should have been index-linked all along. We had the higher capitation grant to act as a cushion in the meantime for those who had graduate-level staff. Currently, those services with lower capitation have gained €9.75 with core funding, bringing them up to €78, €79 or something like that. Those services with a higher capitation grant, however, that were running prior to core funding, were already getting a little bit more, so they have really gained nothing, bar perhaps the graduate uplift for their staff. For us to meet our current statistics, we would need to be where we would have been if this grant had been index-linked all along for the past 13 years, rather than there having been a decrease to €62.50 during the recession and then a return to €64.50, with a further increase from there on.

This is not, therefore, really what we need. We need to reach the level of €100 to €115 weekly, and without even core funding. We would not have any of these issues if we had been adequately funded. It must be remembered we have had decades where we had no funding in the early years sector. We are on a low base, therefore, and we are about a fifth of the way to where we need to be to meet the EU average spending in this area of 1% or 1.5% of GDP. We are, though, talking about billions of euro here, not €1 billion. This is a great achievement, but we do still have a long way to go before we reach the €5 billion mark, if we wish this area to be publicly funded. How do people interpret the concept of a public-funded model? Where is this going to come from?

At the moment, early-years services are built on the backbones of every small and medium-sized provider, as well as large services. About 65% are probably family-run and led services that have invested hundreds of thousands of euro into their services. We should also not be afraid to say that profit is not a dirty word. It is not. Every business, whether with charitable status or not, needs to be able to afford to run itself and cover its overheads. It must be remembered that inflation has reached 16% overall. Sick pay this year was also increased. Our electricity bills also went up by more than 300% in recent years. My bill is now over €1,500 every two months. I need the capitation grant funding for 27 children to pay my electricity bill every two months. This is what we need to provide quality care. To be honest, we have quality. Nothing is broken. We have a great model of childcare. We have great curriculums. There is this thing of trying constantly to look at various models, including those in Australia and New Zealand. We have a wonderful, high-quality sector and wonderful and highly-qualified staff already in place, but we need additional funds to be able to meet their needs, keep them secure and give them security in their roles. This is where the €100 should be allocated, for ECCE-level services.