Majority of Kildare parents have not secured childcare for September – survey
Tánaiste assures Aidan Farrelly TD (SD) that the Minister will engage with him on the issue
Social Democrats TD for Kildare North, Aidan Farrelly revealed in the Dail on Thursday, June 18 that a recent survey among parents found that a majority have not secured childcare services for September and that their careers will be impacted as a result.
Thanking Deputy Farrelly for raising the issue, the Tánaiste said that “on foot of you raising it I'll specifically ask that Minister Foley (Minister for Children, Disability and Equality) engage with you in relation to the particular and immediate issue you're highlighting in Kildare”.
Deputy Farrelly told the Tánaiste that parents are being forced to reduce their working hours or give up their jobs “because they simply cannot access what is a fairly basic service in a very fast-growing county like Kildare.”
“I really welcome the state-led pilot (which will see €130 million being spent on creating state run childcare facilities) that has the potential to do something really, really positive, but I think we'd all agree that that's in the medium to long term”, he said.
Deputy Farrelly told the Dail that there were significant issues regarding capacity of available services now, and similarly with the workforce of childcare providers.
“Tanaiste, what can I say to these families in Naas and Kilcock, Maynooth and Celbridge who really have no option but to give up their job because they can't access childcare service?”, he asked.
The Tanaiste said he would ask Minister Foley to engage with him on the issue.
He noted that the government is committed to its promise of reducing the cost of childcare to €200 per month per child in the lifetime of the government - although Deputy Farrelly commented that there didn’t appear to be any progress on this so far.
“That is a commitment in the lifetime of that program for government, and myself, Minister Chambers and the Taoiseach have all said we want to see progress made on that over the course of each of the next four budgets,
“But specifically, in the here and now, I will make sure that Minister Foley will come back to you on this,” he promised Deputy Farrelly.