Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The number of Covid deaths in nursing homes in this country is absolutely shocking and it is wrong. I am always amazed that when a Government is confronted with these figures, the answer is that it counts those deaths better than any other country is counting them. How the deaths are counted is not something to be proud of. Preventing them is the important issue.

Regarding childcare services, the closures in the sector are complete, full-time closures. The grants that have been provided add up to about €2,500 for reopening, but childcare providers are dealing with overheads like electricity, insurance, rents and wages. They have fewer children coming in for fewer hours. Most of the sole traders operating in the sector are working 70 hours a week under an avalanche of administration and are getting no income at all. Their debts are building up at a rate never seen before and no level of future trading will get them out of that debt. This is a crisis unlike what we have seen any other summer and it needs a different response. The previous Minister for Children and Youth Affairs stated that €750 million would be given to the sector but that money has not materialised. Key stakeholders have been locked out of decision-making by the Departments. There needs to be a proper injection of support and a lifeline given to the childcare sector in order to protect it.

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