Our childcare system doesn’t work for anyone
Those we entrust to mind our kids can’t afford to buy a home or send their own children to creche, writes
CHILDCARE in Ireland is broken. It’s not working for parents or childcare workers. As the pandemic shines a light on the balance between work and family, why do we need to make changes to protect this struggling sector and the role it plays in society?
If you’ve ever walked into the baby room in a creche after 5pm, you’ll know how tired everyone is. It’s like a post-work supermarket sweep. Gather up the kids, their dirty clothes, unfold the buggy, wrestle them into winter coats. The clock is already ticking to bedtime, and there is a rush-hour commute and dinner to squeeze in before thinking about finding some peaceful moments before bed.
In this race, there are no winners. In this race, there are no prizes. Instead, parents accumulate stress, anxiety and self-doubt.
This was my reality after my daughter was born. My bus journey from Merrion Square to Smithfield often took an hour in standstill rush-hour traffic. At 10 months old, she would be hot, hungry or stuck in a soiled nappy that I couldn’t change.
I resorted to cartoons on my phone, apple rice cakes and soothers. I felt like a terrible mother. The buses would be so full I had to shout for 10 or 12 people to move so I could wheel the buggy off.
I enjoyed my work and had a supportive team with flexible hours. Her creche was clean and she was minded by staff who deeply cherished the kids. They reassured me she was adapting well. No, not taking the breastmilk. No, not taking a nap. But she enjoyed the messy play and making new friends.
But over time I became unable to cope. I began to think of ways to let a Dublin Bus run over my ankle, just to break a leg or an arm so I wouldn’t have to do it for a few weeks. I realised the stress had broken me.
That lack of local childcare led me to leave my job and move to Meath. Now, with a short commute over carless roads, our family has never been happier, and my daughter is tended to by professionals with a deep investment in her well-being.
So what about those caring for children? Working parents are empowered by those who have elected to mind our children. Without their dedication and professionalism, we could not return to the workplace. So we must in turn empower them.
Back to 5pm in the creche. Some staff will have a change of clothes for a second job in a pub or restaurant. Others will be facing a long bus commute.
The cost of childcare in Ireland is often likened to that of a second mortgage. But for many early years educators, home ownership is a distant dream.
Ninety per cent of early years educators struggle to make ends meet. Think about that for a moment. The people we trust to protect our infants and toddlers do not themselves feel secure. And despite this, they succeed because they love the kids, but at significant personal cost.
A recent report by Oxfam found that Ireland’s billionaires have become €3.3bn wealthier since the start of the pandemic. The women who mind our children earn less than €12 per hour — 98pc providing this direct care are female.
‘Ireland invests less than any other EU country in childcare’
Many hold Level 8 qualifications. Unlike their public sector colleagues in primary and secondary schools, the majority of early educators have no pension or access to sick leave.
Most of the women who work in creches can’t afford to pay for childcare to return to work themselves. So it’s clearly not working for the workers.
The pandemic has brought its own challenges to working parents. There are employers who understand the difficulties of juggling kids, but all the same, the work needs to be done. Whether that’s during an earlymorning Peppa Pig binge or once The President’s Cat has found his way back to the Áras in a bedtime tale, mammy and daddy must log on to get it done. But the main objective of enterprise is to make profit, leaving the State to intervene.
Ireland invests less than any other EU country in childcare. Yet childcare here is among the most expensive in the EU.
John F Kennedy said: “Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.” We are still digesting the horrors from Ireland’s mother and baby homes. What is the message we are sending to their future? At times during this pandemic, it can feel we are completely powerless, complying with all of the guidance yet still there’s no end in sight.
But let’s use this time productively to decide how we want our society to look in the future. It’s not unreasonable to envisage a more equitable society,
is it?