Kathleen Funchion: Budget a 'total missed opportunity' for childcare
Kathleen Funchion criticised the budget as a "total missed opportunity" for the childcare sector, saying it offered no support for struggling providers or workers. She argued the lack of investment and wage increases will push women out of the workforce, make childcare unaffordable and risk the collapse of the sector.
Childcare sector critique
She said absolutely nothing was done for providers who are struggling and that COVID put the crisis into stark contrast for parents paying high fees. She highlighted that many workers in the sector who hold degree qualifications are still on minimum wage and some must sign on for social welfare during the summer.
Impact on women and workforce
She emphasised that it is mainly women who are affected - pushed out of the workforce when childcare becomes too expensive - and underlined that parents, particularly women, need to be able to afford childcare for recovery to be meaningful.
Calls for immediate action, not reviews
She warned that further reviews are not sufficient, arguing there may not be a sector left to review and that urgent investment and decent wages for childcare workers are required now rather than more consultations.
Housing, carbon tax and pensioners
She also raised housing and rent pressures on families and young people, criticised the carbon tax increase as a penalty on heating and commuting (especially in rural areas), and warned of growing fuel poverty. She noted many pensioners have not seen increases and are not entitled to fuel or living-alone allowances, describing the budget as a "slap in the face" for early years and the elderly.
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As the Children and Youth Affairs spokesperson for the party, I absolutely could not let it go without saying that the budget was a total, total missed opportunity in relation to the childcare sector. Absolutely nothing was done for providers who are struggling, and we all saw that during the COVID. COVID put it all into stark contrast for parents who are paying crazy fees. And I would like to point out that it's mainly women that are affected by this. It's mainly women that get pushed out of the workforce when childcare becomes too expensive. And for those that work in the sector, that have studied, that are at degree qualifications, that many are on the minimum wage, many have to sign on for social welfare during the summer, and time and time again we've spoken about that. At committee, in this chamber, the sector themselves took to the streets on 5 February earlier this year in anger. It's not a sector that normally would actually take that type of action, but they're at their absolute wit's end. Now, in relation to talks of a review, I genuinely believe there's not going to be a sector to review, because the crisis is now, and we need to see action now. There's not time for any more reviews. There's been lots of reviews and various consultations over the years, and while I'm a massive fan of consultation and believe it's extremely important, in relation to the earlier sector, we know what needs to be done. They need investment. The workers in the sector need a decent wage, and parents, in particular women, need to be able to afford childcare. There's no talk of a recovery or there's no point of talking about a recovery if childcare is not one of the key elements of that. In all honesty, I believe there was a total slap in the face for this sector. I want to also talk about housing and those who are struggling in terms of rent. There are so many families and so many young couples and young people out there that are every single month trying to come up with the rent money, that are barely getting by, that have absolutely no opportunity to save for a mortgage. And there was nothing in the budget, unfortunately, to help them. In fact, one of the only things we did see was a carbon tax. So there's going to be an increase on fuel for people to heat their homes, on petrol, people have to use cars to get to work. I mean, there's no alternatives, particularly in rural Ireland. People have to have cars, they have to be able to try and get to work. Yet we see that now people are going to be penalised for trying to get to work and penalised for heating their homes, which is going to put more and more people into fuel poverty that will be choosing between paying their rent or mortgage or heating their house. And I also want to, in the 40 seconds I've left, mention pensioners who have not seen an increase in the last number of years. And not every single pensioner is entitled to the fuel allowance or the living alone allowance. Many, in fact, are not entitled to those payments. And they have to deal with the increases, particularly affected by the increases in fuel. And I just think that there are sectors that have been forgotten about. It's ironic in a way that it's our early years and our children that have been forgotten about in this budget. And our elderly, two of the most vulnerable groups in our society. I don't think it really says very much for the government and this budget. Thank youunto. As I said. Thank you Potter Baumann. As I said.
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