Call for five-year plan to deal with issues facing Tipperary's 8,100 early learners

The ongoing issues facing Tipperary’s Early Years and School Age Care settings can only be addressed with a coherent five-year plan if Ireland is going to catch up with other countries, according to Early Childhood Ireland.

While 2023 saw unprecedented investment, Budget 2024 was a big disappointment and failed to build on gains announced the previous year, they said.

The lack of proper planning is failing providers, parents, and, most importantly, the estimated 8,096 children who attend settings in Tipperary. As a result, the issues facing the sector continue to go unaddressed, the organisation said.

“There are serious issues that need to be resolved if we are to have an Early Years and School Age Care system that ranks among the best in the world,” Frances Byrne, Early Childhood Ireland’s director of policy, said.

Ms Byrne said that staff recruitment and retention was undoubtedly the number one challenge their 134 member settings in Tipperary were grappling with.

“Staffing pressures are caused by factors such as low pay and a lack of pensions. It is vital that government addresses this so that the sector’s 30,000-strong workforce is not left at the mercy of an annual wage negotiation process, which is moving at a frustratingly slow pace,” she added.

“Our members are also concerned about the amount of time they spend on administering the various Government funding programmes, as it is taking educators away from quality contact time with children,” Ms Byrne said.

“Many providers are also dismayed by the attendance requirements. These lead to a lack of flexibility for families and are not centred, as they should be, on the lives and needs of children," she said.

Ms Bryne said that her organisation was proposing a unification of the existing funding programmes - National Childcare Scheme (NCS), Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) and Core Funding - to allow settings to use capacity, not children’s attendance, as is the case with one of the programmes now.

"This would offer improved flexibility with no financial consequences for providers or for parents,” she explained.

Investment & planning

Further investment and the need for a coherent medium to long-term plan for the sector are essential, according to Ms Byrne.