Press Release: Early Childhood Ireland publishes its Budget 2017 submission

Early Childhood Ireland publishes its Budget 2017 submission “Time for giant leaps toward quality, sustainability & affordability in Irish childcare”

Early Childhood Ireland (ECI), the representative and support body for early education and care in Ireland with over 3,500 childcare members supporting 100,000 children and their families through preschool, afterschool and full day care nationwide, is calling on the government to take the necessary leap and make a minimum additional investment of €115 million for new improvement measures and policies in Budget 2017. 

In its submission entitled “Time for giant leaps toward quality, sustainability and affordability in Irish childcare” published today (Wednesday 10^th August 2016) on https://www.earlychildhoodireland.ie/time-for-giant-leaps/ Early Childhood Ireland acknowledges the improvement in State spending on childcare in recent years, but warns that “Despite the improvement in investment, Ireland is spiraling further into a two pronged childcare crises.  A crisis in sustainability for the early care and education (ECE) sector and a crisis in affordability for parents.” 

According to Teresa Heeney, CEO of Early Childhood Ireland, “It is important to stress that Early Childhood Ireland’s asks for Budget 2017 are required to fund new improvement measures and policies in the sector and as such, they do not include the €85 million the Department of Children  & Youth Affairs (DCYA) needs to fund existing measures.  Successive budgets have delivered a series of first steps but in Budget 2017 nothing short of a leap in investment will suffice if we are to move toward a model of childcare in Ireland that can deliver the best quality care and education provision for children; viability and sustainability for both early childhood services and their staff and access and affordability for parents to childcare facilities and services.”

The breakdown of the additional investment of €115 million is made up of:

1. €61 million to increase the level of capitation paid to services operating the ECCE (free preschool) programme to €75 per week per child at the standard capitation rate and €85 per week per child at the higher rate, on the basis of a 41 week programme.
2. €31 million to extend the ECCE programme contract by three weeks to 41 weeks to support the payment of non-contact time and holiday time for service providers and staff.
3. €3 million to create a new permanent and comprehensive system for supporting learners to access further education and training in early childhood education that builds on the existing ‘Learner Fund’ model, caters for all levels and will lead to the provision of a minimum of 3 continuous professional development (CPD) days per year for early years educators.
4. €20 million to introduce a childcare subsidy to support parents with the full year childcare costs for under 3’s in 2017, where the State pays the provider or registered childminder directly to subsidise the real cost of childcare.

Additional recommendations:

• ECI urges the Minister for Social Protection to act on the Programme for Partnership Government commitment to introduce an improved PRSI scheme and provide a supportive tax regime for the self-employed.
• ECI calls on the Minister for Social Protection to priorities parental leave in his budget considerations, recommending the introduction of two weeks paid parental leave in 2017. This would be a significant step towards the medium-term goal of 12 months paid parental leave in the child’s critical first year, which can be shared by parents and follow maternity and paternity leave entitlements. The cost of this measure in 2017 is an estimated €20.5 million.
• ECI urges the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to tackle issues that are particular to community childcare providers, in conjunction with her colleagues the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government and the Minister for Social Protection.  These include a focus on supporting good governance, providing additional funds to support families encountering difficulties, dealing with bad debts and tackling staffing needs relating to the move away from the use of Community Employment. 
• ECI calls on the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to play his part in a whole-of-government approach to ensuring the sustainability of the early care and education sector by abolishing commercial rates for all early care and education settings.

Ends.

Further information:  Teresa Heeney 087 7671481 or Dónall Geoghegan 01 4040696 / 087-222 5691 or Amy McArdle 01 4040645 

Editor’s note –

Early Childhood Ireland, is the representative and support body for early education and care in Ireland.  It has over 3,500 childcare members who support over 100,000 children and their families through preschool, afterschool and full daycare provision nationwide.  Its work includes quality enhancement, publications, advocacy, training, business support and information for a sector that employs 25,000 people today.