Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is here. It is disappointing that the Minister is not here. The last time I raised the early years sector under Topical Issues, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, let me know that he would not be available. We then waited until he was available to submit this Topical Issue and he was able to take it himself. He is the most relevant person to hear the struggles that the early years sector is going through, particularly in my constituency, and especially the smaller providers. That said, I appreciate that Deputy Rabbitte is here to take this. It is a sector that she is passionate about and knows a lot about.

I acknowledge the reduction that has been achieved in the cost of childcare, the cost of sending children to pre-schools, play schools and Montessori schools. There were reductions of 25% last year and 25% this year. Parents appreciate this. I hear that on the ground. The feedback in terms of the cost is good because we know that the costs were very high. However, achieving these cost reductions means absolutely nothing unless settings and providers are there to provide early years education for our young children. Listening to the feedback from the providers in my constituency, I fear that will not be the case. They are struggling. While the Minister will say that very few, if any, of them have seen reductions under core funding, the point is that it does not take into account inflation, costs, overheads and so forth. The early years providers I meet are struggling. I met with over 20 of them in my home town in Clonakilty a number of weeks ago. They are desperate for help. They are struggling and frustrated. There were tears from some of the providers because they are simply struggling to make ends meet. I am not making this up. This is fact, it is what is happening on the ground. I feel it is especially applicable to rural areas, rural constituencies and the smaller providers such as the early childhood care and education, ECCE, providers, the part-time providers and community playschools.

We desperately need an intervention. One setting has already closed, one has confirmed it will be closing and more will follow. My fear is that in a place like West Cork, which is huge, geographically it is bigger than most counties, there will be significant gaps in terms of provision of early years education. Parents have to drive for half an hour or 45 minutes to get to the nearest pre-school. All of the savings in the cost of childcare and education will mean nothing because of these big gaps. I visited St. Mary's playschool in Enniskeane, which is an incredible setting and such a warm and friendly place to go to. This is not childcare. These kids are being educated. The kids were amazing, they were so outgoing. I was this tall, lanky, hairy guy coming in to say hello and they were so friendly and outgoing. That is the level of education and care these kids are getting. We need to give back and to show our appreciation not just to the business owners but to the staff. They are highly qualified and highly educated people but they feel completely under-appreciated and undervalued. They still have to sign on during the summer. That is how bad things are. I am looking for an intervention. A suggestion was put forward to go from three hours to four and a half hours for ECCE and three to four and a half hours for part time. That is when staff come in. They do not just come in and do the three hours. That is the suggestion. The budget unfortunately let them down. They feel let down. We need an emergency fund to keep these operators open and for the next budget we need a complete restructuring of the funding.

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