Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am very grateful to the Minister of State for coming in to take this really important debate early this morning. This is an issue that Deputy Cathal Crowe, who is in the Chamber, has raised a number of times under Questions on Promised Legislation, as have Deputies from all sides of the House. As the Minister of State can appreciate, it is something that is particularly close to home for me because I have kids in this age bracket but also because my wife works as a Montessori teacher. I do not know if that is a declaration of interest or whatever but it frames the context of my contribution.

The concern I have is that this new funding scheme was rightfully announced last week with a bit of fanfare from the Minister. I really welcome it. This is the key opportunity for the Government to introduce a scheme that will bring down the cost of childcare for parents and increase the level of availability for parents and guardians, but also ensure that providers can earn a good living and pay their staff a good wage. I welcome the decision by the Workplace Relations Commission the other day. The scheme will ensure providers can run a viable business that serves a vital cohort in the community, not just the young children themselves and their parents, guardians and grandparents, but also employers who are desperate to ensure that parents can return to work when they can and when they are ready.

However, the sad fact of the matter is that 90% of providers have taken this up but there is an absolute geographic split. In my constituency where I am from in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area of Dublin, it is only an 81% take-up. It is in the 80% bracket across the Dublin city and county region. It is the same when one goes to Cork city and county. There is an imbalance where we have some counties in which pretty much all the providers have bought into it but in others, providers have just said they simply cannot afford to go into this scheme based on the core funding model the Department currently has at hand. I am extremely worried that the core funding model is based on an interest rate calculation that is quite simply outdated at this stage. It also does not bear in mind the very significant additional costs that providers, particularly those based in Dublin, will have that are at a different rate from those encountered by people across the country.

Another issue is that when we look at the rising inflation generally in society, we must also look at the rising fixed costs that all these schools have. They need light and heat. They cannot afford to turn off the heat when they have three-year-olds and four-year-olds in a classroom for three or four hours per day. They cannot afford to dim the lights when they are trying to ensure that kids at the most vulnerable age are catered to. Therefore, we have a situation where 500 providers have sent their concerns to the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and they have not received the level of engagement they are rightfully entitled to expect. At this stage, I would really appreciate if the Minister of State could bring this matter back to the Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, and all her wider colleagues. I know she has a particular interest in this. We have to see the key areas the Government needs to address to bring these providers onside. We need to get these providers inside the tent in order to provide the service to parents, children and the wider society. These providers want to sign up to a scheme but they need to sign up to a scheme that is fair. We already have hundreds of providers who have signed up simply because they feel they have no choice, even though they know they might be in a situation where they will lose money in providing this important service that is, of course, also a business.

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