4,000 people expected to converge on Leinster House as part of childcare protest

Federation of Early Childhood Providers  chairwoman  Elaine Dunne during a protest at Leinster House in August 2022. Picture: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos

Creche representatives are hoping thousands of parents and providers will gather at the gates of Leinster House this afternoon to protest against the issues facing the childcare sector.

Tuesday represents the first of three consecutive days of protest, with childcare providers and families alike expected to march on Kildare St at 12pm.

Elaine Dunne, chairwoman of the Federation of Early Childhood Providers (FECP) and prominent advocate for the sector, said: “The education and wellbeing of children in Ireland demands urgent, meaningful dialogue between Government and stakeholders, a fact Minister [for Children] O’Gorman is unwilling to accept.

FECP chairwoman  Elaine Dunne speaking to Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman during last year's protest. Picture: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie

“We refute the claim that €1bn a year is spent on childcare, when it is clear that just over half the alleged budget goes towards sector support. 

The Government’s childcare funding supports the bureaucratic administrations, rather than the care and education of young children."

A spokesperson for the Department of Children said that just 64 childcare providers have provided the 20 working days’ notice required by the Early Childhood Care and Education subsidy programme for changes to childcare calendars notifiable to parents, with only 26 of those services to close for all three days.

That figure represents just 1% of the 4,800 providers nationwide.

At issue is the Government’s core funding policy, first enacted in September 2022, which saw €259m allocated to the sector last year.

While that funding has seen a dramatic fall in Ireland’s sky-high childcare costs, it was only delivered with the guarantee that all providers signing up to the policy had to freeze their fees indefinitely — a measure not seen as compatible with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, according to service providers.

The Department of Children, however, has insisted that core funding is working, that businesses are not closing en masse as claimed by the FECP, and that there is “no evidence” that the policy is rendering businesses unsustainable.

A spokesperson for the department said the freezing of fees is “reasonable and justifiable... given the level of funding available” under core funding, with one Government source saying they are “very confident that the value of the core funding was far in excess of what was required to meet the additional costs owing to inflation”.

Averil Sheehan, a creche provider based in Innishannon, took issue with that assertion however, saying that “it’s come to the point where if my business is to be sustainable, then I need my voice to be heard”.

Ms Sheehan will protest along with her 10 staff and multiple colleagues in the industry in Cork at Leinster House today, before taking her protest back to her home county for the two remaining days of the action.

“It’s a vicious circle,” she said. 

We’re not getting the correct funding, our funding hasn’t really increased since 2014."

She said that the core funding money “isn’t going to providers — we want to know where the breakdown is, because a 3c increase per child isn’t going to cut it”.

“Parents are being looked after now, staff are to an extent with the new employment regulation orders, but providers are not being taken care of in terms of funding,” she said.