Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent)

I have mentioned this on numerous occasions but I am going to mention it again. I go back to the HighScope Perry Preschool study in the US which found that for every $1 invested in quality early education in the childcare sector and in primary school there was a $7 return. In euro terms, it has the same positive impact on children's outcomes and development. It is extremely important but we do not afford it enough importance in terms of investment or consideration for the people involved in the sector.

My constituency is suffering from a severe shortage of childcare places. It is a rapidly growing area that is not helped by measures that have driven small, independent childcare providers out of business. There are staff shortages due to historic low pay, thanks, in part, to the core funding model that has limited the ability of providers to deal with rising operational costs like those relating to pay, utilities, rent and supplies, all of which have increased post-Covid. Equally bad is the overwhelming nature of the regulatory requirements and administrative tasks. In my constituency, a couple of facilities have had to close. One operator said it was because they just could not handle the administration any more. They ran a very successful, small enough facility and were happy to keep going but they could not deal with all of the administration. It was just too much.

We need to protect children and make sure we have regulation, but we have to balance it out. We need to simplify the system for smaller providers in order to keep them operational. Smaller providers are better for the community. It is the big operators that get away with the shoddy practices. Remember Giraffe Childcare, one third of whose facilities were found to be non-compliant? Well, they are at it again. I know of a mother who recently moved to Adamstown and knew very few people in the area. She needed an advocate to go with her to discuss issues relating to her child. I sent a colleague to support her at the meeting but my colleague was refused entry. She asked if they could contact senior management and they said "No, you can't go. This is political." The person was denied an advocate who has experience in this area. She had to face a group of managers and take notes about her child's situation. Somehow, they thought that sending someone from a TD's office might be too political. They were more concerned about covering themselves rather than the outcome for children. That is why we need to keep the independent operators incentivised.

As with this motion, I have long supported the provision of State-owned childcare to help to address the growing deficit. We see it in many other European countries. It is widely successful in France and Sweden, for example. The aspirations in the programme for Government are welcome, but, as others have said, we need to see the terms of reference, have proper consultation with the stakeholders and get a guarantee of meaningful resources to increase the facilities overall. Separate measures are also needed to help our existing local childcare providers. It is a serious issue so we need to take it seriously.

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