As the Minister knows, childcare costs are completely out of control. Many people are paying the equivalent of a second mortgage. Shockingly, nearly 1,000 childcare providers have closed their doors over the past six years. That is incredible. The Federation of Early Childhood Providers stated that childcare facilities are closing because of rising costs and the lack of funding from the Government. Childcare costs in County Wicklow average more than €11,000 per year per child. In Wexford, they are more than €9,000 per year per child. Now, we are talking about as many as 40,000 children on waiting lists for childcare across the State. Shockingly, the Government’s increase in core funding was a paltry 5 cent per child, which is tiny. In Gorey, Erika's Fairy Wood crèche has only seen a 7% increase in early childcare and education, ECCE, capitation in the past 16 years. The ECCE only covers for 15 hours per week, but service providers cannot claim for welfare for the 14 weeks they are closed. The administration and box-ticking bureaucracy that is strangling so many groups across Ireland is forcing childcare staff, in effect, to become unpaid admins for the Government, Pobal and Tusla. Erika offered her business to the Department as part of its plan to nationalise childcare. Unfortunately, the Minister's office declined the offer. Sadly, Erika's really great crèche in Gorey will be forced to close in June, after 19 years looking after children. Government policy is destroying our childcare sector. A local man who came to my office told me that most of his wages goes towards the €1,400 per month charge for childcare, while his wife's income goes towards their mortgage of €1,600 per month. In view of the high cost of living on top of these charges, how are families supposed to cope? Many of them are fighting through traffic gridlock and floods to get to Dublin today, having dropped their children off at childcare. How are they supposed to survive?

Sentiment score: -0.07