02/10/2025
01/10/25
Government failure has led directly to childcare crisis – Collins
Independent Ireland Party Leader Michael Collins has accused the Government of wilful negligence in the childcare sector, saying its failure to heed repeated warnings has left parents and providers facing a full-blown crisis.
Deputy Collins pointed to fresh figures obtained by The Journal which show that 51 providers have now withdrawn from the Core Funding scheme – the very scheme the Government claimed would safeguard affordability and sustainability.
“This is exactly what I warned about months ago,” Deputy Collins said. “In August I said providers were being driven out of business by a funding model that was utterly disconnected from the reality on the ground. The Government dismissed those concerns. Now the inevitable has happened – parents are being hit with fee hikes of €300 to €400 a month, and communities are losing services altogether.”
The Cork South-West TD said the exodus of providers from the scheme was the “clearest proof yet” that the Core Funding model, introduced in 2022, is not fit for purpose.
“The Minister was told repeatedly by providers, by sectoral representatives, and by members of the opposition that the scheme was underfunded, inflexible, and laden with red tape. Instead of listening, the Government chose to spin a story about stability and affordability. That story has now collapsed,” he said.
Figures show that the vast majority of withdrawals have taken place in the past two years, with 25 providers leaving the scheme ahead of the current school year alone. While 84 per cent of services remain in the scheme, Deputy Collins said this statistic masks the acute distress of families affected by closures and fee increases.
“What use is a percentage when your local crèche has closed its doors, or when you’re suddenly expected to find an extra €350 a month just to keep your child in care?” he asked. “This is not an abstract policy issue – this is parents having to cut their working hours, mothers in particular being forced out of the workforce, and children being denied early years education.”
Deputy Collins repeated his call for an emergency support fund to protect at-risk services and said the Government must immediately convene sector representatives to redesign the funding model.
“You cannot praise the vital role of early childhood education on one hand while strangling the sector with an unworkable funding system on the other. Providers warned this day was coming. I warned this day was coming. It is sheer arrogance on the part of Government to now pretend that this crisis has appeared out of nowhere.
“The collapse of services is not a distant threat – it is happening before our eyes. Families are paying the price for inaction. The Government must step in, and it must do so today, not next year and not after more closures.”
