Independent TD for Clare Violet-Anne Wynne has raised serious concerns about the recruitment and retention crisis in the Early Years Childcare sector.
This follows a meeting in Leinster House before the recess with the federation of Early Childhood providers Early and a cross-party group of Deputies. The meeting heard from an Early Years provider from Shannon who will have to close because of the prohibitive cost of utility bills and staff. The business has found profit is rapidly decreasing due to high costs.
Speaking from Kilrush this week, the Clare Deputy said; “The core funding has been devised and administered in a way that means that the small businesses are now operating at a loss. They are worse off under the new scheme. Unfortunately, it seems it may have been an unintended consequence, regardless, it has resulted in the chain companies benefitting at the cost of the small businesses.”
“This is again another anti rural policy where you will often see small businesses in rural towns and villages rather than the bigger urban areas. Over 70 childcare settings closed their doors last year and this trend will continue and may even ramp up in the coming months. They have been trying to get the message to the Minister, but it seems he can’t hear them or is choosing not to listen. This sector is predominantly female with 93% of the workforce female.”
The Clare TD continued; “If we continue to see this number of closures, it is without a doubt going to add chaos to parents’ lives. This will in turn prevent or further restrict those parents and in particular the woman from going back into the workforce themselves. This is of critical concern. We need to as a society to be progressing and ensuring equal access and rights but this failure to act by Government tells me that they have their priorities in disarray. They are leading us with regressive politics that will have detrimental effects.”
The Kilrush woman concluded; “The Minister needs to stop saying that he is unaware of closures, they are happening and will continue to do so – he needs to heed the concerns and address the issues with core funding.”