Childcare services in Cork struggling hard in the face of an ‘unsustainable’ funding model

By Peter McCarthy, Corkman

Cork councillors have called for the government’s Core Funding scheme for childcare to be urgently reviewed as providers struggle to survive and purpose-built creches lie empty for years because it’s not financially viable to operate them.

Core Funding is a grant paid directly to childcare providers. In return, the providers are required to freeze the fees they charge parents at a certain level. In a motion at this week’s meeting of Cork County Council, Cllr Eamonn Horgan called on the local authority to write to the Minister for Children Norma Foley to review the scheme’s fee mechanism.

He said that while the scheme limits the fees that providers can charge, the cost of staff wages, utilities, insurance, compliance, and maintenance have all risen sharply. “Many providers sign up to Core Funding expecting that the grant will offset these rising costs, instead they’re finding themselves squeezed. As an example, at the childcare provider where my daughter goes to creche, there has been a 34pc increase in wage costs since 2019, but Core Funding only covers 21pc of this,” the Social Democrat said.

Cllr Horgan said the new maximum fee cap that was recently introduced will force providers out of the scheme. “With the caps now being introduced, it feels like those who will win in this situation are those who will cut costs, who will reduce nutrition in the meals and pay the staff less. And is this really what we want for our children?”

The motion was seconded by Cllr Ann Bambury, who said the childcare system is at breaking point with providers closing and staff leaving. “Parents continue to face some of the highest childcare costs in Europe. Providers remain trapped in a funding model that is not economically sustainable and early years professionals continue to be underpaid and undervalued despite their critical contribution to children's development and education,” she said.

Cllr Bambury added that several purpose-built units have remained vacant in the Bandon-Kinsale area for over 18 months, as providers cannot operate them sustainably. “The childcare units remain empty because the economic reality simply doesn’t work under the current system,” she said.

Cllr Audrey Buckley echoed this point, saying that in Carrigaline “we have a brand new, purpose-built creche that nobody's ever set a foot in the door. It's been empty for 28 years. We have no purpose-built creche operating in the area and this one is sitting there idle because the cost of it is unviable.”

Cllr Anthony Barry added that in Carrigtwohill, “there are sites set aside, one for over 25 years, for the provision of creche and childcare facilities and they’re lying idle because they're not viable. The entire industry needs an overhaul. We’re going to have to come up with something because it's not going away.”

The motion was also supported by Cllr Kay Dawson, who said that childcare is “the biggest barrier for women going back to work and being able to sustain their careers through their life while their children are small. I've seen it with grandchildren and trying to get them minded, the cost of it is prohibitive. The whole thing needs to be re-looked at.”

The council agreed to write to the minister about the scheme.