Laura Harmon (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for being here. It is fair to say the childcare and early years sector in Ireland is characterised by low pay for those working in the sector, high staff turnover, high costs for those running childcare settings and high costs for parents and families who wish to avail of this service. We need to cap the childcare fee at €200 and we need a clear timeframe for this. No parent should have to decide whether they can afford to go to work or afford childcare fees or, indeed, whether they can afford to have another child because of the cost of childcare. It is affecting family planning.

Many who have worked or currently work in the childcare sector tell me they cannot afford to stay working in early years. One such person is my friend Councillor Ciara O’Connor in Cork, who left the early years sector, which she deeply loved. She said it broke her heart to leave but that she could not afford to continue because the pay was too low. She would not have been able to afford a mortgage or a future for herself. These people are highly educated, often holding level 8 or level 9 degrees, and the college courses are of very high quality. These educators need to be treated in the same way as primary and secondary school teachers in how they are paid, and we need a publicly funded model of education for childcare.

Early education practitioners are often the first to notice if a child has additional needs requirements such as speech and language therapy or occupational therapy or needs an autism assessment. They are key for that early intervention for a child. Those working in the access inclusion programme are also low paid and that too needs to change.