Underfunding and excessive bureaucracy blasted by early childhood providers

Chronic underfunding and excessive bureaucracy has left many early childhood providers burned out and drowning in a sea of paperwork, one long standing operator has claimed.

Sonya Duggan, who has been providing education and care for young children in Portaloise in Co Laois for 25 years, said a 44 million euro boost to the core funding model was far below what was required.

Ms Duggan, who currently runs two Montessori schools in the town, is a member of the Federation of Early Childhood Providers.

The federation last month organised a demonstration at the front of the Dail that saw thousands of early years operators and staff demand action from the Government.

A number of service providers affiliated with the federation closed their doors for three days in the same week as part of the protest action.

Ms Duggan predicted that more action would follow next month as many providers faced the prospect of closure.

“They were hoping there would be light at the end of the tunnel, and it doesn’t look like there is,” she said of the budget.

One of the federation’s principal concerns is the core funding model introduced last year. The arrangement allowed private sector operators to sign up for a guaranteed stream of state funding. In exchange they have been required to freeze fees for two years and also open themselves up to additional departmental oversight.

Children’s minister Roderic O’Gorman said the core funding would rise to 331 million euro in 2024, an increase of 44 million euro on the current allocation of 287 million euro.

Ms Duggan said the funding falls well short of what providers require to run their services and keep pace with rampant inflation.

“There’s very little coming to the provider, virtually nothing,” she said.

Ms Duggan welcomed the budget’s further 25% average reduction on fees for parents, but she questioned why that was only coming into effect next September.

She said her sector is now hugely over-regulated, with operators having to account for every move, including an hourly breakdown of staff activities and the costings for purchasing toilet paper and art supplies.

“They need to have a more collaborative approach and stop bombarding the services,” she said.

“We’re constantly ticking boxes, trying to adhere to all these regulations, and it’s just gone beyond a joke. People are feeling burned out and they’re really stressed because there’s far too much administration tied to our roles. And our main focus should be the care of the children, the education of the children, supporting our staff and our families. And that now has seemed to have gone by the wayside.”

Ms Duggan said she regularly has to work into the early hours of the morning to keep on top of the paperwork.

“We’ve got to justify every penny, every cent, and it’s all about compliance,” she said.

“It’s like a whole level of trust is gone out the window. It’s like they’re coming in to find fault. That is fundamentally wrong.

“Many a provider like me from small and medium sized services are just drowning in the paperwork.”

She added: “If we sign up to their scheme they own us, they are micromanaging us within an inch of our lives. And that is no joke.”

Ms Duggan claims a move dating back to the last government to designate staff in the sector as carers, rather than educators, has been used as justification to suppress funding.

“They’ve totally watered down our titles, they’ve taken education out of our titles now and want to refer to us as early learning and care givers,” she added.

“We’re constantly battling for a level playing field and to be properly recognised by the relevant departments, and not for our titles to be watered down as early carers and childminders and care workers – it’s very insulting and disrespectful.”

Ms Duggan says while the Government has increased investment in the sector, a lot of that has gone into providing fee subsidies for parents rather than investing in services.

“It is brilliant that the parents are getting the subsidies,” she said.

“100% they deserve it and they need it, but the providers need to be looked after too.”

Ms Duggan said the central problem is an apparent drive by government to create a public childcare system, but without stumping up sufficient funds to pay for it.

“Government parties are calling for public childcare without actually sitting down and realistically working out how are we going to cost that, how are we going to pay for that?

“They’re just running with it because it sounds good, and they’ll get votes. It’s wrong and, in the meantime, people are absolutely burned out and having nervous breakdowns and going to hospital or borrowing money off their children’s funds or having their husbands support them in their business to pay their bills and their staff wages. It’s wrong.

“I just want to be paid a proper fair decent capitation for the work we do.

“And I just can’t keep going like this. I’m 25 years in Portlaoise now advocating and supporting and lobbying for everyone and listening to providers cry and being stressed out of their heads. And it’s not right, it’s not right the stress they are putting people under.”