Máire Devine (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

The early years education system in our country is broken. There are thousands of children languishing on lists for places that parents can pay up to €1,000 per month to early years educators who themselves are underpaid and undervalued by this and successive Governments. In the past, the subsidies the Government introduced were welcome but turned out to be cumbersome, off-putting and confusing, to say the least. The funds given to the private providers do not reach the early years educators. Parents are paying the equivalent of a mortgage payment each month for services but the actual providers and workers on the ground do not benefit.

These decisions overwhelmingly affect women - women who stay at home and women who staff the early years education sector. Ireland is, again, not prioritising women and not helping and supporting them with their children. The low pay for educators and the withdrawal from a career results in women who are less financially stable and more dependent on their partners' income. In Dublin 8, where a monthly rent for a two-bedroom gaff averages €2,600, how can the Government expect parents to manage? It also affects pensions later in life. I support the affordable €10 per day public childcare model put forward before the November election by Sinn Féin, which the Minister and the Government parties mimicked in their promises but have since drawn back from in their programme for Government. These is no surprise there in an astonishing line of broken promises. Although there are other less flattering words for it, I will call it a "broken promise". I am committed to delivering for the families of Ireland. Sinn Féin is committed and I insist Government parties now show their commitment as well. Do not languish and leave parents languishing also.

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