The Irish Times view on childcare: parents stuck in the middle of row over funding

The Government has increased State investment significantly in childcare provision. Yet the system remains under pressure, with parents struggling both to find places and to afford the bills. It is another area of society where the rising population is stretching service provision and one where some of the terms of the partnership between public and private sector need to be reexamined.
The latest developments are adding to long-standing problems. A number of providers are pulling out of a key scheme for providing State cash to the sector – core funding – saying the terms and conditions are too onerous. In particular, they argue that the freeze on fees which they are obliged to impose – with limited exceptions – means they cannot meet rising costs.
But it is parents who are left stuck in the middle of this row. Some smaller providers are closing, while a number of the larger ones have pulled out of the core funding model. Because they no longer get the State payment, this means the bills to parents rise significantly further. With few other options available, parents are left with the choice of paying up or of one partner staying at home.
State investment in a variety of supports to providers and parents has increased significant in recent years, a welcome recognition of the vital importance of the first few years of a child’s life. Yet more needs to be done. And as well as the overriding social reasons for this, there is also an economic return in giving both parents the choice of whether to remain in the workforce at a time when there is a shortage of skills in many sectors.
Funding childcare as a priority is a political choice. It means having higher taxes or spending less elsewhere. But starting to put the sector on a sounder footing would, for example, be a much better use of funds in this October’s budget than another round of universal cost-of-living payments to households. Childcare costs are permanent of course while universal payments are temporary. But the €900 million spent on energy credits in the last budget could have funded improvements in the sector over a number of years.
Partnerships between the public and private sector always involve some push and pull – and the Government needs to ensure money is well spent and does not just inflate the profits of providers. This is complicated as the financial position of different providers varies with some seeming profitable and others under pressure.
As well as aiming to keep costs down for parents, the Government needs to recognise that providers are facing rising costs and staff shortages – and aim to set a path to increasing pay in the sector to more appropriate levels.
This will not all be solved in one budget. But recognising the scale of the problem is vital, followed by real engagement with parents, providers and childcare staff to map a way forward.