Strike by childcare providers ‘unwarranted and causing great inconvenience,’ says Varadkar

Strike action by childcare providers on Tuesday is “not warranted” and has caused “great inconvenience” for parents, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said. He said the Government would seek to reduce childcare costs further in the upcoming budget, and was also looking at measures and interventions to increase the availability of childcare over the coming years.

The Fine Gael leader said it remained the Government’s objective to reduce childcare costs by 50 per cent and they were “halfway there already”.

The Taoiseach was responding to Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil, who said many creches around the country had closed their doors for three days “due to frustration with Government policy”, with providers protesting outside Leinster House on Tuesday afternoon.

She said the reality was that the provision of childcare service was “in crisis” and had been the case “for some time”. Government policy had failed, with childcare remaining too expensive for the majority of families, with parents “paying the equivalent of a second mortgage in childcare fees”.

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The Sinn Féin leader said the chronic lack of childcare places was also a serious problem, and the “capacity crisis” a source of enormous stress for parents across the country.

[ About one-third of children in Ireland attend childcare, census finds ]

“At the heart of this crisis is the prolonged underinvestment by successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments that’s pushed childcare services to breaking point. Sustained poor levels of pay for childcare professionals has severely undermined the viability of childcare providers.”

The Dublin Central TD also said the Government had last year committed to cutting childcare by 50 per cent over two budgets, which meant an additional 25 per cent cut in Budget 2024, and asked the Taoiseach would that be honoured. “It’s time for Government to stop tinkering around the edges of the crisis and step up now with real ambition.”

In response Mr Varadkar said of the 4,000 childcare providers in the State he believed less than 5 per cent were participating in the strike on Tuesday and was being supported by only one organisation – the Federation of Early Childhood Providers.

He said he acknowledged there were “real challenges and real pressures” in the childcare and early education sector. The best way to resolve issues was by co-operation through the Early Years Forum.

“We do not believe that this action by one organisation is warranted and is causing great inconvenience for parents, particularly parents who have to take time off work or even take annual leave to look after their children while this strike by this particular group is under way,” Mr Varadkar said.

He said the Government had prioritised investment in childcare “like no other”, with over €1 billion a year in the sector per year. “That will, of course, increase for next year in the budget, but has to be done within the parameters of a 6.2 per cent overall increase in spending.”

He added that it remained the Government’s objective to reduce the cost of childcare by 50 per cent and the cost had gone down for the vast majority of parents by roughly 25 per cent last year, which meant they were “halfway there already”.