Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is nothing personal, but I am disappointed. The Minister of State has responsibility for mental health and the elderly. My question relates to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and it is probably no wonder that the Minister, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman, is not present given the respect he has shown to date for people in early childcare. The way they have been treated is shocking and it obvious that is why he not showing his face today. It is painful for me to be before the Minister of State, pleading with her to save early years childcare providers.

Providers have received little or no support from this Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Green Party Government. The early childcare providers and I appealed to the Minister for an exact breakdown of all expenditure from the Department to funding recipients. The Minister has ducked and weaved and has not given this exact breakdown. However, every effort has been made to destroy the private early childcare providers, putting them out of business in west Cork and elsewhere.

The Department is demanding a validated financial return which must be submitted by an accountant from a registered practice or a registered professional body. This is now an added cost of thousands of euro for early childcare providers.

In her reply, I ask the Minister of State to tell me where she thinks these broke and almost broke providers can find these thousands of euro to do up these accounts. It is shocking that the Department cannot account for its own expenditure when continuously asked, but chases early childcare providers to see where they bought every rubber, pencil and topper.

The Minister treats all these providers with contempt, as does our Taoiseach. I have addressed questions to him in the Dáil and this Fine Gael leader kept answering me by saying it was the parents and the childcare providers who were inconveniencing everybody due to their strike instead of showing some sympathy to them.

The parents support these early childcare providers. They were with them outside Leinster House. They know somebody out there is siphoning money but it is not the private early childcare workers.

The Minister is standing idly by as they go out of business and his Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Green Party colleagues are backing him on his way to destroying these top-class providers. They feel the ratio of two adults to 22 children for ECC must be re-examined and a third staff member appropriately funded as children of aged two years and eight months are eligible for the scheme. It seems to the public that there is not a clear understanding of children in the Department at this time. There is simply no clear understanding of children full stop.

Have the Minister or Government members ever attended a public meeting held by the early childcare providers? I have and it was gobsmacking to hear the stories. Does the Minister realise they turn up in huge numbers and tell how they have to turn to their husbands or partners to keep their businesses open? When I hear the way these dedicated people, mainly women, are treated, it makes me and others ask what the hell is going on behind the scenes here.

I ask the Minister to be honest. Who is he protecting and who is wagging the tail here while genuine people go out of business. The Minister pretends to turn a blind eye. His colleagues in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael turn a blind eye, hoping these businesses will close and be gone out of sight.

I will tell the Minister and his buddies in government that the early preschool providers are waiting for the next election. The parents of the children who are minded by these great people are waiting for the next election. The husbands, partners, parents and family members giving these great people loans so that they can survive are waiting until the next election. They will not forget how the Government treated thousands of them.

Only a few weeks ago they gathered in their thousands outside Leinster House and outside city hall in a peaceful protest. This week, on Thursday, they will hold another peaceful process by holding an awareness day. They will all wear orange and get signatures for their petition. After this, the clock starts ticking, and ticking fast, as there will be an all-out strike in January. All this is due to inactivity and no awareness as to how the sector is being so shockingly treated.

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