Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)

I am delighted to support Sinn Féin’s motion this evening. My constituency is Dublin South Central. Like many here, I have received many emails from parents which outline the prohibitive cost of childcare. I have had emails from people in Ballyfermot, Drimnagh and around Dublin 8 from people who are paying more than €1,000 a month per child. For anyone with more than one child - at one stage I had three children under the age of three - it would cost many thousands. People cannot afford this. It is unsustainable. This is something that everyone has been calling for and we need to move on this.

It is very disheartening to hear that it was promised by the Government before the election and it is not coming to fruition. I echo what my colleague, Deputy Farrelly, said about páistecare. It is a model which is costed. It would put us on an equal footing for children in their very early years of care and education. Coming from an education background, I have seen first-hand those children who do not attend early childhood education and the effect that has when they come into primary and secondary schools. It is time we put early childhood educators and the education they provide on a par with primary and secondary school. It was only decades ago that secondary school became available to everybody. The next level to which we need to move to become a progressive society is having early childhood education as a public service that is available to all and that gives everybody an equal start. I commend the alliance that was outside the Dáil this week. Their work is monumental to what we need to do now.

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