I welcome the opportunity to raise this important matter. As we all know, early childhood services in the past were largely informal arrangements between neighbours, families and in some urban areas the option of sending the preschooler to private playschools.
In recent years Government has recognised the need for diverse child-minding arrangements for families, for example, preschool requirements, full-time day care or after-school care. The establishment of the county child care committees was a welcome step in attempting to support parents to obtain quality child care provision in their own area and I acknowledge the excellent work that Offaly County Childcare Committee does.
The early childhood and education care scheme, known as the free preschool year, was widely welcomed on its introduction in 2010. It ensured that all children would have an opportunity to attend preschool free for one year before attending primary school and obtain the recognised benefits of early learning, development and socialisation.
It has brought challenges though in terms of duplication and displacement with too many providers being allowed into the scheme in some areas. Sustainability seems not to have been a priority in the administration of the scheme. Proof of a need for the service should be a priority as some providers are now in the position that they do not have enough children to maintain the service and some are not even earning a wage for themselves as a result. I sincerely hope that the Child and Family Agency will address this issue as a matter of urgency as those already providing the service need to be supported before allowing new providers into the system.
Ensuring that staff are properly trained is essential and the providers, both private and community based, recognise this. Yet it is necessary for providers and staff who require up-to-date first aid or manual-handling training to bear the extra cost of travelling to Dublin to do so. This is the case for those in Offaly. Surely it must be possible to provide this type of training locally to prevent needless travel expenditure for the providers and staff.
Another difficulty being experienced by private providers with vast experience, many of whom have been in existence for 15 or 20 years, is how inspections are conducted. Anecdotally, it appears that there is no consistency. Well run service providers who take their role as child care providers seriously are only too happy to have inspections conducted but being deemed non-compliant because of a stray cobweb or a leaky tap seems to be over the top.
One could not argue against high standards and strict regulations for providers to ensure that our preschool children get the best possible start in life, but what value do we place on their work? Many of those women providing the services are well trained and educated but not paid enough to reflect their experience and responsibilities. I know of child care workers with a degree in early childhood development or child care management who are getting great job satisfaction but are badly paid, many on minimum wage. How long will they remain in such positions? How long before they start to look across the water to do conversion courses to become primary school teachers where they will get work placement and possibly permanent work and at least be properly paid for the work they do? We are investing in training and educating these women but other countries are benefiting. I say women because it is primarily women who are in these roles. We need to recognise that preschool teaching is as valuable as any other teaching position.
One of the biggest challenges for families is the need for after school services.
I was recently contacted by a distraught parent whose after-school provider closed with one day's notice to the parents. Finding a replacement provider is proving difficult and the prices being quoted will return her to the position I was in during the 1980s, that is, being obliged to give up work as child care costs were too high for the household budget to sustain.
A community child care facility in County Offaly also contacted me recently to advise how tight is its cash flow. While I will not mention its name, it has a motivated board that is compliant in every way, fund-raises regularly and is proactive about seeking funding from other sources. However, the board is faced with putting up charges, which it does not wish to do as it is aware the parents cannot afford it. Having obtained funding to improve the building from a particular source, the board now faces the difficulty of being obliged to come up with 25% of the funding for the project or to lose it all. It is a catch-22 for it. Will the Minister consider putting in place interest-free or low-interest loan facilities for such community child care boards to help them expand and improve the services they provide?
