Sinn Féin spokesperson on Children, Claire Kerrane TD, has said that despite all of the talk from Fine Gael on a public model of childcare, the Programme for Government is silent on it.

Teachta Kerrane said:

“Simon Harris spoke a number of times ahead of the General Election of his commitment to a public childcare model, and it being a ‘key priority’ if Fine Gael were returned to government yet there isn’t a mention of a public model in the Programme for Government.

“There isn’t a commitment to look at or even consider a public model of childcare let alone deliver it. This will come as a huge let-down to many in the sector who were pleasantly surprised with comments Simon Harris had made.

“Where has Fine Gael’s consultation process on a public model gone?

“Instead, the Programme for Government makes a vague commitment to ‘progressively reduce the cost of childcare to €200 per month per child. This is meaningless without a time-frame as parents continue to struggle to pay in many cases well over €1,000 a month for childcare.

“There is also no commitment on better pay for Early Years Educators other than to continue with the Employment Regulation Order when the process in place to deliver this is not working. The last pay increase achieved was 65 cent and it took 14 months to negotiate.

“This is unacceptable and, far from ‘attracting and retaining Early Years Educators’, as the Programme for Government suggests, this will see these professionals continue to leave the sector and rooms closing further reducing capacity.

“This government clearly has no intention of cutting the cost of childcare, making it affordable to parents, building much needed capacity to ensure access in the first place and no commitment to Early Years Educators. All the talk before the election was just that.”