Sir, - "We're driven by care not profit." This is a quote from the supervisor of the creche in the Fingal ICTU centre which appeared in your EL section of April 3rd. Was Deirdre Hopkins really aware of what she was implying in saying that "a commercial creche is driven by profit"? Does she work on a voluntary basis or does someone pay her a wage for her work? Does she think that people working in child care which is not community based get paid too much for the work they do?
She is wrong. In my school four adults work with 40 children in two separate morning and afternoon sessions. I feel we give a very good quality of care in a stimulating educational environment and we deeply care about the children who are entrusted to us daily. The charge for a three-hour session five mornings a week is 30 per cent more than "the nominal fee or £20 a week" charged by the Fingal ICTU centre creche. Does this sound as if we are driven solely for profit? From this all costs have to be paid. There is no profit as the monthly income equals the expenditure on wages, rent, heat, phone, paper towels, cleaning materials, equipment, snacks for the children, and art and craft materials. Despite that, the staff and I could only argue that we are "driven by care not profit".
Since the Fingal ICTU creche is "largely funded" through the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform what is this £20 per child used for? There is also a comment that "insufficient funding means that there are no outdoor facilities". How have providers in the private sector managed in the past without any funding at all? The answer is this: by putting the children's needs first and paying themselves and their staff very little. - Yours, etc.,
Glynis Stephenson, Rainbow Montessori School, Midleton, Co Cork.