Creches and childcare centres are unlikely to experience widespread staff shortages because of supports put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic, their representative body has said.
Early Childhood Ireland, which represents 3,900 members that provide places for 120,000 children, said the pandemic supports have been a “lifesaver”. However, it has warned that childcare facilities are facing into an uncertain post-Covid future and the pandemic had exposed how vulnerable such facilities are.
ECI director of policy Frances Byrne said without the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme and how it pertained to childcare facilities “things would be a lot worse. Creches would have had to let staff go”.
The Government has continued to pay between 70 and 80 per cent of staff wages in creches and after-school facilities throughout the pandemic.
She warned though that some crechés may have staff shortages when pre-school and after-school services start up again this week as workers have taken up employment in other industries.
Many such facilities are worried about a “cliff edge” when it comes to the withdrawal of Government funding as there is uncertainty as to how many parents will be returning to the workplace or to a blended work environment in the autumn.
“While childcare settings continue to face the challenges caused by historic under-funding, the Covid-19 crisis has highlighted early years and school-age care as an essential public good and exposed just how fragile our sector is,” she said.
“The security offered by this scheme is holding childcare providers’ heads above water at the moment, but, long-term, sustainable solutions are needed. Otherwise parents will continue to face waiting lists for their babies, alongside high fees.”
ECI says investigating in early years has been recognised as a desirable thing by successive governments but “our members and the families they support are beginning another new term with uncertainty hanging over them.”
ECI members have written to their local TDs calling on them to double the investment in childcare by 2028. It wants the Government to make good on the commitment in the First 5 strategy to double investment in childcare by 2028 and to publish the plan to achieve this as part of Budget 2022.
Currently Ireland spends 0.1 per cent of its GDP on early children. UNICEF recently stated that rich countries should invest at least 1 per cent of GDP in early years.
