Parents using the services of Dublin-based day-care chain, Little Rainbows, are left in a state of distress faced with a significant fee hike or quitting their jobs. This is due to the company’s decision to opt out of the primary government funding scheme. The increased fees will impact nearly 600 children who attend any of the five centres run by the Little Rainbows group in Donaghmede, Artane, Baldoyle and Santry. Parents are anticipating an almost 50% increase in fees, traanslating to an additional €80 per youngster each week, beginning from the upcoming month.
The local public representatives have received a letter from distressed parents stating that they feel abandoned and defenceless due to this sudden shift. Although the firm suggests a weekly rise of around €55, parents argue that this does not consider a €33 boost to the subsidies they are entitled to from the national childcare scheme, which is scheduled to come into effect the following month.
A prior owner of a creche, Social Democrat councillor Aishling Silke, now a lecturer of early education at Dublin City University, asserts that the situation underscores an entirely dysfunctional system. Silke drew attention to the profits of approximately €3.5 million over the past three years brought in by the two companies backing Little Rainbows. One of them is called ‘Little Rainbows’, and the second ‘Monica Campbell’. During this timeframe, they have also received government Covid relief funds amounting to €2.4 million.
While speaking on RTÉ’s Liveline programme, Alec Flood, a director of Monica Campbell Ltd., which operates two of the five creches in question, asserted that the decision to withdraw from the central funding was not driven by financial reasons. Instead, he cited “excessive interference with the running of the business”. Mr Flood hinted that up to half of the services may exit the core funding, where the government directly provides support to operators to offset their service costs, this year.
The Department of Children reports that enrolment into the third year of the initiative matches figures from the first two years, with roughly 95% of providers participating. Ms Silke stated that many small providers are just managing to keep their heads above water, adding that it’s not a sustainable business approach for larger providers who are beneficiaries of substantial subsidies to return these funds to the Government as they don’t want to shoulder the administrative burden. She emphasised that the parental input is frequently overlooked and outlined that this incidence illustrates the fundamental faults of the system. It’s suggested that exploring a public model could be valuable. A response is awaited from Little Rainbows on the matter.