Source: Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin spokesperson on Children, Claire Kerrane TD has said that the delivery of affordable and accessible childcare education cannot be allowed to be added to the scrapheap of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s broken election promises.
She added that the government must urgently give a timeline to deliver affordable, high-quality and accessible early childhood education, and add state-led capacity where needed.
Speaking ahead of her party’s Dáil motion, to be debated this evening, which highlights the impact the crisis in the Early Years Sector is having on parents when it comes to the cost of childcare and difficulties in accessing a place for their child, Deputy Kerrane said that the time for talk is over and that parents now urgently want to see delivery.
Sinn Féin’s motion is supported by the 43 organisations and trade unions who have come together to form the Together for Public Alliance for a Public System of Early Childhood Education & Care, and also has widespread support across the Opposition.
Teachta Kerrane said:
“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael talked the talk before the election, now is the time to act.
“We are now over 100 days into the lifetime of this government, and we still haven’t seen any action on childcare.
“Instead, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, backed up by the Michael Lowry independents, have been ditching election promises like there’s no tomorrow.
“They have abandoned the Occupied Territories Bill, delayed increasing sick day entitlement, delayed pension auto-enrolment scheme and backtracked on increasing the minimum wage.
“Affordable and accessible childcare simply cannot be allowed to be added to the scrapheap of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s broken election promises.
“That is why Sinn Féin is this week bringing forward a Dáil motion this week that calls on government to honour their commitments to parents and to the Early Years Sector.
“Ahead of the General Election, Simon Harris spoke a number of times of his commitment to a public childcare model, and it being a ‘key priority’ if Fine Gael were returned to government.
“The Programme for Government commits the government to undertake a broad consultation and publish a detailed Action Plan to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early childhood education and to add state-led capacity where needed.
“Meanwhile, waiting lists for childcare places continue to grow and costs continue to put huge pressure on parents.
“These parents and their families cannot afford to wait any longer. We need to see a willingness from the Minister, in particular to engage with the Together for Public Alliance on the Terms of Reference for the consultation, and provide a detailed timeframe for the Action Plan.”