Childminder says new regulations threaten to squeeze operators out of the system

There is a three-year transition period for childminders to adopt new regulations. Picture: iStock

A childminder operating in rural Tipperary has said new regulations have been "overdone" and threaten to squeeze operators out of the system.

Jackie Matthews said that while requirements for child safeguarding and first aid training are welcome, some measures are overburdensome.

There is a three-year transition period for childminders to adopt new regulations, which the Department of Children said offers to safeguard children and gives quality assurance to parents.

Childminding Ireland, which represents 600 members, said 832 childminders had completed training as part of the new regulations, and only 123 from that cohort have registered in the past two years.

"Childminders are leaving in droves at the moment, so the problem is going to get worse and there's going to be less childcare available in rural Ireland," said the chief executive of Childminding Ireland, Bernadette Orbinski Burke.

She said that while they support the regulation of childminding, there was a fear that the current approach would "drive childminders away".

"The childminders who we're speaking to who are leaving don't see themselves in the new system, they don't see it as meeting their needs or representing the work they do."

Ms Matthews has offered preschool care since 2015 under the Early Childhood Care and Education Programme (ECCE).

She minds six children in two sessions, from 9am-12pm and 12pm-3pm, meaning she has a total of 12 children a day.

She said she fell under preschool regulations until recently, and had been "looking forward" to the childminding regulations.

But she said that some other childminders in the area, who would pick children up and drop them off at hers, were not going to register.

She said this would affect her "hugely" if three or four other childminders in the area ceased operating, as she won't be able to rely on the drop-offs and her numbers will decrease as a result.

Jackie Matthews: 'If you are going to turn your home into a heavily-regulated business, it's going to change how you operate and the feeling for the child.'

"I may have to retire sooner if I lose my support network, I have to have at least five children to run that ECCE session," she said.

She added: "I 100% feel like childminders are being squeezed out of the system. I'm not saying that everything is wrong with the regulations. We know that children have to be first, we know that safety is an issue, but if you are going to turn your home into a heavily-regulated business, it's going to change how you operate and the feeling for the child."

Finance Minister Simon Harris said on Friday that he would give "serious consideration" to expanding existing tax relief for childminders.

Ms Matthews said she was not looking for tax incentives, but "to be listened to".

"I remember when my children were growing up, they were in a childminder's, and often the childminder would ring me and say, 'Guess where we are, we're at the beach'.

"Now that childminder has to write a risk assessment. You might as well not go then. I think there is a different pathway.

"If there is a childcare crisis, why are we not getting these childminders on board?"