A chara, - In a week when media attention is firmly focused on the atrocities suffered by children in Irish schools and institutions, I find it astounding that the current problems in relation to childcare have not been mentioned at all.
According to the Southern Health Board, they "cannot recommend any creches or pre-schools" in the Cork area. There is a two year wait after registration with the SHB for an initial examination which means only some of the schools have had their initial examination by the board, and none have been re-checked to see if any of the required changes have been implemented. What this means is that if you wish to use a creche or pre-school as day care for your children, you have no way of knowing how safe it is. Good schools deserve to be recognised and parents have a right to know whether schools have been passed or not. That is of course if you can actually find a place in one. I have contacted over three-quarters of the childcare facilities in Cork city and not one has a place available. Even UCC, with a population of approximately 10,000 students (20 per cent mature) and 1,500 staff, has a creche with only 30 places (my child has been no. 84 on the waiting list for the past nine months). St Ann's Day Care Nursery, a centre specifically for single mothers, has space for 30 children but can only take 15 because of lack of assistance from both the Government and FÁS. Best case scenario at the moment is 7th place on a waiting list for 2001. I can only assume that the rest of the country is in the same situation.
While we are so busy repairing the damage of the past, can we not devote some time to preventing the problems of the future? Childcare is a booming industry which is not being allowed to grow because of lack of action on the government's part. Tax relief on childcare means nothing to a woman who earns £4 an hour and gives £3 to a babysitter. Meanwhile women, particularly single ones, are forced out of the workplace, or work with the knowledge that their children may be in danger.
While the Celtic tiger reaps the benefits of a booming economy, the Celtic tigress faces the choice of staying at home with the cubs or throwing them to lions. - Yours, etc.,
Niamh Cosgrove, Patrick's Hill, Cork.