Spiralling insurance costs the 'straw that broke the camel's back' for creche

Spiralling insurance costs are the “straw that broke the camel’s back” for those in the childcare sector as creches nationwide look set to soon shut their doors for 24 hours.

Parents will find out tomorrow evening if hundreds of creches around the country will shut for a day of protest action in the coming weeks.

Frustration has been brewing among those working in the sector for some time due to what they describe as a failing funding model, low wages and a staffing crisis.

Last month, many creches saw insurance costs increase in some cases as much as 300% as one of the two insurers withdrew from the Irish market.

However, the main insurer in the sector, Allianz, has said that the public liability premium charged by it to provide insurance cover to cater for a medium sized day care facility equates to less than €5 per child per month.

Further details on the planned day of action, due to take place later this month or in early February, will be hammered out at an emergency meeting in Dublin tomorrow afternoon between groups involved in the sector, including the Federation of Childhood Providers and SIPTU.

“The lack of Government investment in the sector is driving up fees for parents,” said Darragh O’Connor, head of strategic organising at SIPTU.

“The day-to-day challenges have been grinding down on those in the sector. There has been an underlying crisis in the sector for a number of years now but the insurance crisis was probably the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Many workers in the childcare sector are struggling to make ends meet, and are receiving well below a living wage, he added.

Provisional estimates show that more than 1,200 workers from around the country are ready to join the day of protest, according to Elaine Dunne of the Federation of Childhood Providers.

A lot of childcare providers who are members of the federation are operating at a loss, according to Ms Dunne. "We were already broken by re-registration [with TUSLA], we were on the ground. The insurance costs and re-registration were just too much when there is already so much more going on.

"We have a staffing crisis. We can't get staff. Funding is also a huge issue," she said, adding that the funding received for operating the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) schemes works out at ‎€64.50 per child.

"Out of that, you have to take out wages, insurance costs, rent and food for the children. Its a lot of expenses and on top of that, there is a lot of paperwork. You are running at a loss."

The group is asking for a new funding model for the sector, a higher level of wages for workers, and for costs not to be passed onto parents, she added.

This story has been amended