Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Rural Independent Group I would like to express our sympathies to the family of the late Brendan Daly, iar-Aire, iar-Aire Stáit agus iar-Theachta Dála. I had many an interaction with him. He was a jolly man and a hardworking and diligent public representative always. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Last week the Federation of Early Childhood Providers launched a document outlining the challenges facing the sector. Over 200 of them came and protested outside the front gate of Leinster House. The sector is facing huge challenges. It has concerns about its financial viability and the level of control that organisations have over their business decisions due to the restrictions and increased regulations that are being placed on them regarding access to core funding and a freeze on fees. Private providers are being forced to operate at a loss and their running models are insufficient. The largest costs are down to Government impositions.

The sector has also experienced a staffing crisis, between retaining and recruiting, and that is another problem for it. This all has an impact on the number of places available for parents, families and people who want to enter the workforce, etc. The sector also faces numerous challenges in meeting the growing and diverse needs of children with additional needs, including funding constraints, staffing issues, limited resources and long waiting times for people to get assessments, and then there is no lead-in time. We must financially support staff, parents and families. While the employment regulation orders, EROs, and the freeze on the fees being introduced are welcome for parents and staff, they impose additional burdens on the providers. In return, access to core funding has been promoted as a means of reward. Private services suffer from the imposition of additional duties and regulations. There are many regulations putting huge pressure on these services. We want to have them and the vast majority of them are running impeccable systems in childcare. However, the model is clearly not working in its current form and providers are being forced to reduce choice and flexibility in services that should be meeting the demands of families.

As I said, providers are being forced to adapt models and reduce flexibility, with people being forced to choose full-day services while early childhood care and education, ECCE, and sessional options are being dropped. That is not good for families either. These impositions are harsh on the providers. Forcing them to trade non-viably is considered a crime and the Government is forcing this. One cannot knowingly trade in a reckless situation; that would be described as trading without proper financial funds but the Government is forcing this on top of them and putting them in a difficult situation. These are people who had the initiative and business acumen to set up their own centres and give loving care to our páistí óga. They are also giving great solace to the families who put their children in these places and they are giving those children a great start in life. We need to do something here to relax the regulation. We should sit down, listen to them and engage, which the Minister is not doing, and we should support them.

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