87% Need Supports to Stay Open, 69% Running at a Loss & 78% Want the DOE in Charge
Aontú Leader & Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín has lambasted the absolute devastation of the Childcare sector by FF/FG/Green government, as survey results revealed by the Federation of Early Childhood Providers reveal a sector on the brink of extinction.
“Every statistic, every survey result, every answer to questions posed by the FECP bring home the destruction of the Childcare sector under the acting FG caretaker government and the new government which is continuing their inaction. Only 22% of providers surveyed found the DCYA in any way helpful. 91% of childcare facilities have said that government actions during the pandemic were wholly inadequate. 79% said they feared for the future survival of their business. 87% said they need significant government supports and funding to keep their doors open to parents and children. Simply, how is the Minister for Children and government not getting the message – if their inaction continues, there will be no childcare sector.”
“Arguably, no other sector has faced the mistreatment, the abuse and the neglect that the childcare sector. 78% of childcare providers are deeply concerned over their own mental health state arising from their treatment by the DCYA and Pobal. What does it say about the actions of government bodies and Ministers that a sector’s mental health is worse off, than if these bodies and Ministers had done nothing?”
“This problem is not going away. 70% of services are closed. Only 22% of providers are operating at full capacity. 69% of providers are running at a loss and shackling themselves to mountains of debt. 27% of providers have had to lay off staff. 84% are not receiving full wages. It is a damning indictment of the DCYA and successive Ministers for Children, that 78% of childcare providers would rather the Department of Education be put in charge of the sector than the Minister for Children and DCYA continue.”
“If this government continues to abdicate its duty to childcare providers, its legacy shall be one of the government who finally destroyed the childcare sector.”
