GUEST COLUMN: Early Childhood Ireland’s four asks for children

Barely a day goes by without a story outlining the challenges faced by parents, providers and staff in early-years and school-age care settings.
Many families rely on the quality care and education provided every day in Early Childhood Ireland’s 89 member settings in communities across Mayo. Despite much-needed investment and progress over the last number of years, there is still a long way to go to address the underlying problems and grant early-years and school-age care the status it deserves.
The Taoiseach has made very welcome statements about delivering for every child and their families in this year’s Budget while also stating his intention to make Ireland the best country in which to be a child. With a general election coming into view, the time is now to be ambitious and make good on that intention by elevating early-years and school-age care to the same status as primary education. This will benefit more than 5,300 children in Mayo who attend preschools, after-schools and other crèches, and the estimated 1,912 who are looked after in childminders’ homes.
Early Childhood Ireland is proposing ‘4 Asks for Children’, which offers a way forward for early-years and school-age care provision and that will help to meet the new Taoiseach’s worthy ambition.

Sustainable workforce
Undoubtedly, the biggest challenge facing settings in Mayo and beyond is the recruitment and retention of staff. As a first step towards a publicly funded model, the Government should set a date to bring early-years and school-age care graduates within public sector pay and conditions in line with teachers. This will go a long way to resolving the staffing issues, which manifest in high staff turnover, low workforce morale, operators having to juggle the impossible at times, and the resultant impact on parents, while helping to achieve consistent quality for children of all ages in all settings.

Capacity planning
Every child in Ireland should have access to high-quality early-years and school-age care as a basic right. Like so many other counties, Mayo has a lack of capacity for children aged under three years old, with the number on waiting lists outweighing the places available. We need to ensure there are enough places for children in their communities. A system of national and local two-year and five-year planning cycles is crucial to achieving this.
For many families, particularly those who live in rural areas or who work irregular hours, childminders provide an invaluable service which enables them to work. It is time to give childminders the formal recognition they deserve for their vital contribution to the lives of children by fully implementing the National Action Plan for Childminding 2021 - 2028.

Five-year plan
Early Childhood Ireland has consistently called on the Government to publish a five-year plan with a new investment target to ensure the implementation of overarching early-years and school-age care sector policies. Despite reaching its initial target of €1 billion in 2023, the Government has yet to produce a new funding goal and a plan which unifies the various commitments it has already made.
Settings are currently at the mercy of yearly planning cycles that put a lot of strain on providers, and this, ultimately, negatively impacts children. It is extremely difficult for providers and parents to plan for the year ahead without adequate and timely information on funding and changes to various schemes and programmes. Early-years and school-age care has undergone enormous changes over the last number of years and needs long-term planning for these to be effective and to benefit all children.

Family leave
Finally, Ireland must be brought into line with other countries by ensuring adequately paid maternity and paternity leave. The European Commission recommends that 66 percent of a parent or guardian’s income is paid to them during the first year of a child’s life so they can stay at home during this crucial period. It is the norm in many countries that are considered best-in-class when it comes to early-years and school-age care. The Government needs to commit to doing the same for parents and guardians in Mayo and throughout the country.
Early-years and school-age care is a public good. It is time for us as a society to recognise this and to ensure that every child in Ireland has equitable access to high-quality provision. By doing so, parents, providers, staff, and, most importantly, children will reap the benefits for generations to come.

•   Frances Byrne is Director of Policy with Early Childhood Ireland.