Just 15% of Irish children in regulated childcare

IRELAND compares very badly to other developed countries in terms of funding and regulation by the State for childcare and pre-school education, a major international report reveals.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study showed fewer Irish children are in regulated child care than their counterparts in most other countries, reflecting the predominance of informal services in the country’s fragmented childcare sector.

The comparison of 2004 access rates shows that 15% of Irish children, up to three-years-old, are in licensed early childhood education or childcare. The access level figure is only lower in six of the other 18 countries compared, including the Czech Republic, Hungary and Mexico.

But the OECD report — Starting Strong II Early Childhood Education and Care — also notes this country’s weak regulation of these services, despite research showing that regulation can lead to improved quality.

“Weakness of regulation is a particular concern in countries where the majority of young children attend unlicensed or weakly licensed settings before public early education begins,” it states.

The report also observes high staff turnover in the sector in the US but says the situation is paralleled in countries like Ireland with insufficient legislation for the childcare sector or where quality standards are not enforced.

“In several countries, for example in Canada and Ireland, much of the private provision in the child care sector tends to be exempt from all but minimal health and safety rules,” the OECD said.

The OECD recognises the excessive costs of childcare to Irish parents and how they may remove the financial incentive for a mother to continue work.

“This is most likely to happen in situations of government inattention or insufficient supply in countries where providers are allowed to demand the full market price,” it states.

The report cites Ireland as an example as Irish parents pay an average of more than half the costs of child care, unlike continental Europe where public subsidies cover well over half the costs.

Ireland is also singled out as one of a minority of countries which does not provide at least two years of free, publicly-funded provision before primary school.

“With the exception of Ireland and the Netherlands, such access is generally a statutory right from the age of three, and in a handful of countries from an earlier age,” the report states.

It does, however, recognise progress in policies to increase family-friendly work practices since the first Starting Strong report in 2001.

Also acknowledged is the coordination of childcare and early education policies, previously the responsibility of seven departments, under the Office of the Minister for Children set up last year and the establishment of an Early Years Education policy unit in the Department of Education.