I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this motion. At this late hour, I thank most of the parties who have stayed in here to debate such an important issue. Last week when I raised these issues with the Taoiseach during Leaders' Questions, he outlined the level of Government investment in childcare, but investment is not the same as sustainability. The Taoiseach answered how much Government is spending; he did not answer whether providers can survive. All around the country and particularly in rural communities, childcare providers are telling us the current funding model places enormous pressure on them. Participation in core funding is not proof that providers are financially secure. Many remain because they have no realistic alternative. The real question is this: how many providers are operating sustainably under the current model? Government points to growth in childcare services but families deserve to know how many additional early years places have actually been created, separate from school-age children. Growth in after-school services is welcome but it does not help parents who cannot find a place for a baby, toddler or preschool child. There is also the ongoing unfairness of historic fee freezes. Providers operating under the same conditions can receive very different levels of income because of decisions made years ago. Government has county-average fee data, so why can providers not be brought up to the county average while wider reforms are examined? Let us not forgot what families were told before the last election. Parents were promised childcare costs of no more than €200 per month. That might be one way of getting votes but for many families it has proven to be a promise that has not been delivered. People took the Government at its word. The sad reality is many children whose parents were promised that support will be well out of early years childcare before meaningful action is taken. Families cannot keep waiting while Government points to spending figures and future plans. A sustainable childcare sector must be able to do more than keep the lights on. Providers need to be able to pay staff fairly, invest in their services, build for the future and expand where communities need places. This is one of the most serious issues today. A childcare system cannot be judged solely on how much Government spends or even by how much parents save. It must be judged on whether providers remain viable, educators are retained and families can access the early years places they need. That is the question providers and families are asking and it remains unanswered. It is remiss that we have not thanked all involved in the early years childcare sector. They have been through the most enormous nightmare in recent years. I remember when they were outside the gate and the Minister would not even go out and support them on the day. Sometimes it is about standing with a genuine organisation like this. They were not standing out there for the good of their health; they were out there for to keep the doors open. The parents came out in their hundreds to support them. Unfortunately, we had an uncaring Government then and I think we have an uncaring Government now because the sector is still feeling the pinch. I sat down with the sector's representatives over the last few weeks. I raised it very specifically at Leaders' Questions last week to the Taoiseach. He is not taking in the reality of the crisis they find themselves in. They are not shutting their doors because they want to but because they are given no choice in the matter. Successive Governments have ignored the crisis they are going through. The current Minister needs to step up to the mark and understand that. We speak quite a lot about bills. This week Electric Ireland is raising the price of electricity. Providers have to pay these electricity bills from money they do not have. It is a serious crisis and we are not taking it seriously enough. The people have been promised €200 per month. They are not getting anywhere near it and we are not going to keep the promise the Government made at the rate it is going. I think it is in the programme for Government. The Government will not suddenly give a huge amount of money. It needs to look at and speak to the sector. The people who know are the people working on the ground. The Government does not seem to understand that if they are in crisis and closing their businesses, there is something wrong somewhere. They are not doing it just to pass the time. These are very committed people. The people I spoke to have given time, blood, sweat and tears to their jobs. They are giving it up and paying it out. Sometimes if the wife is trying to run the business and is struggling, she is dipping into her husband's income from another sector to keep the doors open. It is astonishing we have let things go that far and that there is so little between profit and loss and between an early years childcare provider surviving and not surviving. The Government must discuss this with them, thrash out the difficulties, get this sorted and nip it in the bud before the next election. It needs to be done. They are willing to sit down. Any time they are sitting down, nobody is listening on the other side. That has been going on for many years. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, to show interest in resolving this crisis if she really is interested in doing so. Everybody will then see there is a chance they will only have to pay €200 per month for childcare. It is all down to the hard struggling parents in this country and the early years childcare providers who have served the country with great distinction.

Sentiment score: 0.04