Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

8 o’clock

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing this motion to the Dáil. I have been working with a group of small childcare providers in my constituency and I was happy to stand with them, and with hundreds of others, last week at the Federation of Early Childhood Providers' demonstration. The Taoiseach said the demonstration was "not warranted" and caused "great inconvenience". What I believe is unwarranted and inconvenient is parents having to juggle work, to make ends meet and a childcare system implemented by the State that is totally affordable and not fit for purpose. We need a better childcare system in this country, which needs to be a public system provided by the State, staffed with public workers, and free at the point of access. Early childcare providers are carers and educators. This needs to be recognised.

In my mind there is no place in the education of our children for profit and for all the corners that are cut to make profit. The Government's current plan seems to create a system solely for the large multi-million euro providers. If a provider does not have the financial weight it gets squeezed out of the system, leaving a small number of large, wealthy providers to exploit what is left for profit. We have seen this happen in France where four companies own the majority of childcare centres now. That is what we have seen as the profits soar for the big providers. The biggest provider in this State, Giraffe Childcare, is owned by a UK firm that is controlled by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. Giraffe Childcare had an increase of profits of more than €1 million from 2019 to 2020, and saw its cash holdings double. Meanwhile, small community providers that historically stepped into the breach when there was a huge gap in childcare provision decades ago are struggling to make ends meet. This has a huge effect on the wages of workers in the sector. Small providers will see turnover squeezed and the big providers chase the profits. This system is more and more designed for the large companies and is being planned and implemented by the Government, as far as I can see.

Between six large providers profits increased sevenfold to €6.9 million from 2019 to 2021, while smaller providers closed down and went out of business. All of this is happening in a cost-of-living crisis where parents cannot afford to miss work for childcare or to have a parent's day at home.

I agree with Deputy Connolly that the Sinn Féin motion probably does not go far enough but I will be supporting it. We need a policy shift. We need free public childcare. At the very least we need to change the system that is pushing smaller community providers out of business and where big wealthy companies get to step in and see their profits soar. We must make sure that childcare is affordable for all families and we must ensure that childcare workers can get a proper wage.

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