Calls for more State funding as childcare services close

ELEVEN childcare services have closed or are set to close in Meath and Cork, as providers demand more State funding to remain open.

The Federation of Early Childhood Providers (FECP) said that over Christmas in Cork alone, seven services, catering for up to 24 children each, closed their doors. And it said four Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) services in Co. Meath say they will close in June, affecting an average of 22 children per service.

FECP chair Elaine Dunne said children and young families deserve better. Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman, right, is understood to have met small and medium providers in rural Cork yesterday to discuss the crisis, but Ms Dunne suggested his portfolio is too large for one minister.

‘When you have a ministerial portfolio that includes Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, this is too large a portfolio for one minister to undertake effectively,’ she said.

‘Our sector has been historically under-funded for many years now. We as a sector are supporting our economy and we need Government to financially support all services to do their job. It is a new year… same childcare crisis.’ Core funding introduced in 2022 was intended to support struggling services and deliver high-quality service provision. A condition of the funding was that creches freeze parents’ fees at 2021 levels. Ms Dunne said this led to an inequality with new services, which could set fees to keep up with rising costs. ‘How could the minister and his department not see that this type of unfairness was going to cause huge financial difficulties for service providers?’ she asked.

‘The main reason for services closing includes the fee freeze, coupled with the staffing exodus from the sector to positions within external government bodies.’

She added: ‘An increase in the administrative burden and the introduction of a chart of accounts mid-year has made the situation even more complicated.’

She said stand-alone ECCE services were particularly vulnerable as their ‘fee is set at €4.60 an hour for an established service’.

The FECP has continuously lobbied the minister to have the rate increased from €69 to €100 per child per week.

The Department of Children was approached for a comment.