Minister Roderic O’Gorman is Closing Down Early Years Education and Child Care

Minister Roderic O’Gorman is Closing Down Early Years Education and Child Care - Tóibín

Speaking to the massive Child Care protest outside the Dáil today Aontú Leader and Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín stated:

“Minister Roderic O Gorman has stated that this strike is not warranted. It’s a bit rich for a Minister who is on a salary of €183,000 a year to tell providers and staff of this sector, many of whom are on less than the minimum wage that their strike is not necessary! It’s a bit rich for Minister Roderic O Gorman who is closing down hundreds of early years education and child care facilities to tell providers that they strike is not necessary”.

“It’s a bit rich for the Minister Roderic O Gorman to tell families who are going into personal debt just to stay afloat that their campaign is not necessary. These are cossetted Ministers well insulated from what its like to struggle to keep a business that is strangled with bureaucracy open. These are ministers who don’t have to deal with a cost base that is radically increasing. Many Early Years services have not increased their fees since 2016. What would Roderic O Gorman say if we reduced his wages to 2016 levels”?

It’s a bit rich for Minister Roderic O’Gorman who states that he supports equality, to be hammering a childcare sector that is mostly women led, to be closing smaller operators in provincial towns and villages while boosting the coffers of large multinational operators in cities. For the Minister for Children to say that a strike is unnecessary in a sector that is one of the worst funded in the EU shows you how disconnected the Minister is. The Minister seems to be living in a parallel universe”.

“But Early Years Eduction and Child Care are not alone. Similar is happening in the Nursing Home Sector, with nursing homes closing across the country. Similar is children in state care. Childcare and ECCE businesses are leaving the Childcare sector. Energy companies are pulling out of the energy market. Landlords are pulling out of the rental market, banks are leaving the banking market, nursing home providers are leaving the Nursing Home sector. The Government are distorting so much of economy and as a result we see incredible dysfunction, bottlenecks and capacity crisis all over society”.

“The Minister for Children states that the sector is discommoding parents. The Minister’s stubbornness is discommoding parents. Tens of thousands parents have been discommoded by the Minister’s stubbornness. Soon many parents will have no child care option available to them at all in their towns and villages. Aontú was the first party to raise this issue in the Dáil and we have done so again and again for each and every month that has passed. This campaign is not going to give up and we are not going to give up either.

The Irish political system is radically broken

In Ireland the vast majority of elected representatives put a finger in the air to check which way the political wind is blowing. They have one eye on their leaders – seeking brownie points – and another eye keeping their seat safe. If elected reps shut up and do as they’re told, they are promoted; if they stand up for what they believe in, they are demoted. No wonder we have the political class we have. No wonder one point one billion euro is being buried in a hole under the National Children’s Hospital and that Stormont is in stalemate.

Throughout Ireland, many people are now afraid to say what they feel, many are afraid to respectfully engage on a range of different topics. Many feel there is a new censorship and a new political correctness in Ireland, that opposition to the establishment is being deleted.

Respectful opposition is not the enemy. Respectful opposition is a critical element of a functional democracy. Aontú will have the backbone to stand up, without fear, for you.