Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

We can all agree on this and the Minister is in agreement, but what we really need is action. In 2011 we were promised graduate-led child care, a second free preschool year and a Scandinavian-type child care system. None of that has materialised. There are numerous difficulties in the service for staff. These are qualified staff providing a well laid out and accepted curriculum but at low levels of payment and salary.

It is an issue that must be addressed urgently. Of course, the whole question of child care also has a knock-on effect on parents and their ability to access further education or second chance education, or even to enter the employment market, where employment is available.

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