Adrianne Boyle failed to secure childcare during her first pregnancy until after her baby was born. However, with her second child on the way, she promptly informed her local creche at nine weeks into her pregnancy, securing another slot. However, she wasn’t top of the list.
She reflects on the time before Zara, her three-year-old, was born, when her social circle was scarcely filled with parents. Many were just beginning their family journeys after a wave of weddings and due to the Covid pandemic. Adrianne felt unprepared and uninformed about the looming childcare challenges.
Her thoughts when Zara was born in April centred around returning to work a year later, assuming sufficient time to sort things out. However, when she began the search for childcare, she was met with a crisis and felt like a mendicant reaching out to people to care for her child without compensation.
Even though money wasn’t the most pressing problem, as Adrianne is an employed civil servant and Ryan, her husband, has a stable tech job, they were nevertheless trying to save money for a future home. This made the cost of childcare a significant concern.
They managed to find a creche they were content with, Naomi’s in Knocknacarra, offering a weekly rate of €200. However, a spot for Zara was only open in July, leaving the couple grappling with how to manage a three-month gap. Abandoning work wasn’t viable for them.
Through temporary adjustments with a childminder and some successful manoeuvring, Zara eventually began attending the creche and enjoyed it thoroughly. Nonetheless, Adrianne recalls the exhaustive efforts that went into ensuring childcare facilities were ready prior to her return to work.
Upon her pregnancy with Cillian, she quickly secured a childcare spot to align with her maternity leave. But while she was 38 weeks pregnant, she collected her daughter, Zara, from the creche only to find a notice stating the facility would be closing in a month due to a critical staff shortage.
The announcement left her and 38 other families in a predicament. The parents rallied, lobbying to local political figures, yet the competition amongst themselves for the potential childcare alternatives in the vicinity was fierce. Eventually, after a hectic search, a local Montessori school agreed to take in the elder children, including Zara, with the younger ones absorbed by a new creche chain opening up nearby. Even though the chain’s rate of €350 a week, cut down for an unknown period to €300, was steep, the parents exhaled a sigh of relief.
However, Cillian’s place was established elsewhere by Adrianne, yet it will not be operational until next August, invoking another childcare gap post her maternity leave. Moreover, they could not accommodate Zara. Although Ryan, Adrianne’s partner is anticipated to get additional leave to ease the situation, the planning is still vague and stress levels are peaking. Add to that the logistics of transporting two children to distinct locations.
Notwithstanding all the hurdles, they still consider themselves fortunate as they’ve always found a solution. They also recently bought their first home and are now planning on purchasing a new car. Each childcare spot costs them around €137 per week post the government schemes, and the total weekly expense goes up to €200. But the trials of being a working mother in their country is something Adrianne finds gruelling. It’s like a constant tug of war and continuous improvisation, she admits.
Moreover, Eimear Shannon, a Galway-based nurse at Bons Secours, wholeheartedly agrees with that sentiment. With her husband, Emmet, working from home in their self-built house near Moycullen, she too knows the struggle of constant juggling.
Residing on the far side of Galway City, a couple anticipated their family’s growth and engaged a nursery for their son Donagh, now three, and their daughter Méabh, currently 18 months old. The commitment was made two years prior, spanning a time period before Méabh was even born. Following their transition to their new home, they were obliged to travel daily to their old nursery, undergoing journeys of 35 minutes one way and 40 minutes return, until the new nursery had the capacity to accept their children after a two-year wait, according to the mother, Eimear.
Surprisingly, the nursery has notified them of its decision to withdraw from the Government’s primary fund allocation system due to the need to elevate fees in light of spiralling expenses. Crèche fees that are part of the programme are predetermined, and though authorities grant a few the opportunity to apply for parental fee increments, the procedure is still in progress and the final number permitted to do so remains unclear. Certain crèches have opted to exit the scheme in order to regain control over their charges.
Eimear and her husband face an impending monthly childcare bill of between €1,600 and €1,850, varying with subsidies available at certain periods, a significant jump from the previously anticipated €1,100. Even so, Eimear expresses her support for the nursery owner. She reflects on the owner’s struggle to financially sustain the operations and points out other mothers sharing similar experiences about their nurseries. Hence, she suggests that more funding support is desperately needed for such facilities, and further advocates for the establishment of flexible services, noting the lack of part-time slots.
Ena Downey from Young World on Barton Road East in Dublin explains that the external oversight that comes with the Government’s fund is what led her to decline the core funding. In light of escalating costs, she is planning a fee increase to €310 per week for each full-time child from next month, with subsidies from the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) and Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programmes, parents are expected to cover roughly two-thirds of the cost.
Based on a rapid evaluation conducted sometime back, her enterprise, established over three decades ago, would have gained approximately €50,000 annually if they had agreed to core funding. Currently, her childcare centre has a workforce of 10 individuals, comprising both full-time and part-time staff, including herself, catering to 27 youngsters.
She clarifies, however, that her reluctance to join is not due to hesitation about government involvement. In fact, she welcomes regulatory oversight. Her refusal would be the same for any entity offering €50,000 without any substantial contribution to her business operations but demanding the title of partner and enforcing a slew of limitations on how she conducts her business.
Downey reveals that she has to devote many unpaid hours handling administrative duties related to the NCS and ECCE schemes, aiding parents in acquiring the fee remissions that the government promises. She is quick to point out that these savings are for the benefit of the parents and not for her. The savings serve to balance the amount her clients owe her, and she is, in effect, offering her administrative services to the government at no charge despite her decision not to participate in core funding.
Staying outside the system also means she misses out on other forms of assistance, such as multiple types of grants which are solely offered to those who opt for core funding. She refers to this contingent support as an act of “compulsion.”
Downey also expresses her concern about smaller operations like hers being crowded out by the larger chains who receive a significant amount of funding. She argues that the smaller establishments are currently shutting down as their passion is being crushed.
According to a study by industry organisation Early Childhood Ireland published on a Thursday, there are about 27,000 children queuing for early learning and care spots, with around 3,000 places still vacant.
Recent data from the Department of Children indicates a net gain of 129 services last year. While the growth rate has slowed, the Department reports an overall increase of seven in the first six months of 2024.
Over the past few years, the department has substantially ramped up its spending in the sector. It has been stated that last year, about 20 out of roughly 4,300 withdrew from core funding but continued their operations.