Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I will share time with Deputies Boyd Barrett, Mick Wallace, Joan Collins and Catherine Murphy.

It is very well documented, and people know, that every dollar invested in high-quality early childhood programmes for disadvantaged children produces a 7% to 10% annual return on investment through increased productivity and lower social costs. Investment in child care is beneficial not only for the children involved, but for everybody, and yet Irish parents are absolutely crippled under the burden of the enormous cost of trying to access it, which is in many instances greater than a second mortgage. It is a reflection of the fact the social wage in Ireland is completely out of sync with the rest of Europe.

The reason the situation is so bad is we have outsourced and privatised early education. I am not blaming the private sector for this. In fact, I am well aware that many struggling crèche owners who want to do the very best for the children in their care are actually penalised by the current scenario. It is not sustainable for them to earn a living. Our society and successive Governments have undervalued the work of those employed in child care and crèche workers. Those employers who try to pay over the odds and above the minimum wage and meet the standards are penalised and it is made more difficult for them to do their job.

We have to be much more imaginative in how we deal with these issues. I am in favour of the Government taking over many of these businesses, compensating those involved and continuing to employ them. In the same way as we deal with schools which have principals and ordinary teachers, we could have crèche managers and their workers taken over directly, under the control of the State. If we do not invest in early childhood education, children today will not achieve their potential and our society will be weaker. It is an absolute disgrace that those who are trying to do their best in this sector have been abandoned by the Government and it is about time it listened to their concerns.

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