Politics

Childcare providers ask O’Gorman for emergency funding ‘to pay the staff’

Smaller childcare services say the current funding rates, which favour larger providers, are ‘killing’ them

Roderic O'Gorman, Minister for Children: a spokesman for O’Gorman said there would be an independent funding review of a sample of smaller providers due to the concerns they had expressed. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos

Smaller childcare providers are calling on Roderic O’Gorman, the Minister for Children, to give them an emergency payment this Christmas to cover staff wages.

Core funding for the childcare sector was increased in the budget to €259 million, but smaller providers have complained that they are not getting enough of that sum. Since January this year, around 130 childcare providers have closed out of the around 4,400 operating in the sector.

The Federation of Early ...