Mattie McGrath urges stronger support for community childcare services
Mattie McGrath spoke to a motion on childcare and early years provision, urging stronger support for community and private providers and for parents caring at home. He praised volunteers and local crèches, warned of staffing and pay problems, and asked the minister to work collaboratively on solutions.
Praise for volunteers and local crèches
Mattie McGrath commended community initiatives and volunteers, citing a local centre he helped set up as a successful example. He named Neen Rekoschner Nua, its voluntary board and managers Mary and Joanne, and praised the long service of workers such as Marie Lundigan, noting the centre has operated for over 20 years.
Staff pay, conditions and recruitment challenges
He highlighted concerns that early-years staff are treated as "second-class citizens" - lacking equitable pay and holiday entitlements. McGrath described recruitment and retention problems after retirements and scheme exits, saying centres are finding it hard to replace staff and that the issue is multi-faceted and national in scope.
Special education places and school capacity
McGrath raised pressures in the education system for special needs provision and additional rooms, mentioning that Banch and Action School are awaiting sanction for a second room. He pointed to Clonmel and Tipperary and noted Ferry House in the south of Clonmel is no longer used for its former purpose while West Waterford also struggles for places.
Policy approach and appeal to the minister
He argued against a one-size-fits-all model, calling for a holistic mix of support for parents at home, community childcares and private providers. He urged proper conditions and wages for staff, respect for boards of management and all employees from managers to cleaners, and appealed to the minister to accept the motion and work together for the sake of children. He also referenced regulatory rigor including HACCP and food-preparation guidelines and noted his personal stake, saying he and his wife Margaret have 13 grandchildren and will need childcare services.
Context of the motion and local examples
McGrath noted local examples such as Care Bears and Balapurine and said some initiatives received public funding but had difficulty drawing it down. He described community visionaries, parents and grandparents who help raise children and stressed that supports for community providers would strengthen early years services.
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Let's dive into the discussions shaping the nation Goel maith agad, I too want to compliment, Sinn Fein, I'm bringing forward this motion, it's very timely, and it's very, very important Mala naoige aga chukak xid, and if we don't look after our young and nurture them properly, you know, it's a bad state of affairs I want to salute Kei Dolcees, ni maahri galea, the mothers who care for the children in their homes and indeed extended families, and the grandparents, and indeed, you know, neighbours or friends, it's into the mail, it takes a village to raise a child, with the old adage, but I want to really salute visionaries out there, community creatures that are out there, and private ones as well, but community ones especially here this evening, and they must be supported, because they're volunteers, and we can't kill the spirit of the volunteer, and definitely, I mean Sir Neil Connan visited Neen Rekoschner Nua last Wednesday evening when he was in Newcastle Village, and saw for himself first hand, there's a wonderful Neen Rekoschner Nua, which I was involved in the set up, I'm very proud to have been, and was the brainchild of Helene Nicra, a sister-in-law of mine, and indeed a voluntary board have continued to run that, and they have the responsibility of children, in first instance, babies, toddlers, and after school, and indeed before school, and indeed they also have the responsibility of employees, and they look after the employees, and there's a very happy relationship in that place, under the management of Mary, and Joanne, and Mary, so it's so important that we have proper conditions and wages, and indeed we met Marie Lundigan, who is there from the inception of this, which is there now over 20 years, and she made a very passionate plea, how the workers must be respected and supported, and sadly they're not, they're treated as second-class citizens, they don't get the same rate of pay, they don't get the holiday pay, but so the voluntary boards are doing their best, and the early years certainly, and supports would be helped to supporting them, but now they have another problem, is that recruitment and maintaining our staff, and they've been very lucky, because it's a wonderful place to work, they've stayed, the staff have stayed, but a number of have recently had to retire, and finish the times on CE and whatever, and they're finding it hard to replace the staff, which is a problem all over the country, so it's a multi-faceted approach, I want to salute Care Bears, and they are finding child care, and Balapurine is all around there, wonderful institutions, okay they got public funding, but I tell you one thing, it was some difficulty to draw down that money, and to get it, and to be architects, and to be managers, and to be builders, and be everything else, but the wonderful success stories, many of them, and in many villages, and they started with a lay-con five-dollar team, my own daughter was one of the first students into the first one, although she's 30 years of age now, but I'll tell you when she was five, 25 years, a growing workforce, but I also want to, as I said, press on the government, that we have to look at this, it's not going to be one size for all, and we have to remember to support the parents in the home, and allow them to be able to say it's the best of all solutions, secondly, is the community child cares, and in the private child cares, as I said, as well, but as I said, it has to be a holistic situation, not all public, because that isn't working, we see the education system itself, it's difficult in challenges there, especially with special needs, and everything else, and the clamor for special places, which we have many in the country, and many places have got to issue extra rooms, but there are some people left out also, and I could mention, Banch and Action School are still awaiting a sanction for the second room there, and the boards of management, again in those schools, and the principals and the staff want to have this, and it's great to have people who want to care, and they want to give extra care to special children, they need to be supported, and no room wasn't built in a day, but it's tough, and we do need more special schools, and we're in special schools in Clonmel, in Tipperary, and I'm saying the Ferry House, which is the south of Clonmel, not being used anymore for what it used to be, ideally located on the border of Waterford, the rivers are between us, because West Waterford are struggling for places as well, but this is a very timely motion, I know the Minister was here earlier, I know you're here now Minister, and I hope that you will take, you know, the adversarial system of rejecting the motion, it's a good motion, we need all to walk together, together, and try for the sake of the children, and the children yet unborn, that need these places, as I said in my own one, because I know there's up to six, and I intend to support the needs, as well, we have, my wife Margaret and I have 13 grandchildren, so we will be in need of childcare, and childcare facilities for some time, and national schools also, so it's an evolving situation, and it's great to see it continuing, and these places, you know, that are so badly, badly needed, and the rules are rigorous, I know what they have to be, you're looking at the children, other people's children, and obviously very strict rules, and with HACCP, and the guidelines around food preparation, but look, they're very happy places, the mass majority of them, I've heard a deputy's earlier saying about, you know, situations where people are overcharged, and didn't give their free scheme, that's a pity, it's more intuition, it's, it's important that this, as I said, there are future generations, and they need to be nurtured, and as I said, we need to give respect for the board of management, and the staff, management staff, and all the staff, from the management down to the cleaners, and the suppliers as well, and our community of Koshnoa Niwa, the Niinwa Toshik Forest, because it's really expanding, we have 120 dark tea, and we have about, you know, 17 staff, and it's like an industry, inside a small village, and it's an industry, one of the biggest employers, and people, I remember when we opened the doors first, parents came from New Ross, which was 70 miles away, could not believe it, but that's the kind of demand that was there, that has been dealt with, to a good extent, but there's always continuing need, and continuing demand for extra supports, and like, what you have public funding, and you know, it's great for these, and department funding, for the buildings, the construction, and many things, and many community initiatives, are suffering across the country, for lack of continuing upgrades, and maintenance supports, issues like that, and when we look at that, and be imaginative, whether it's community centres, whether it's, you know, a community crisis, no matter what it is, that there is a fund there, for maintenance and contingency plans, whether there's accidents, or lightning strikes, God knows what happens, and buildings get old, and they need to be upgraded, especially with modern heating systems, everything else, so, and the costs of running them, the cost of fuel, so, it's a, it's not simple, but I was, it's one of my pleasures, great pleasures, to have been involved, as I said, and still, I'm not on the board now, but I still have a regular contact, I love to go in, to hear the children, Suga, out in the yard, and then to see them walking from there, up to them, and, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's just, uh, holistic, and it keeps the village alive, and every other community, I've been personally talking about my own, but there, in Clown Melmond, and the Hohan, there, in Cashman and Moon, and in the Ocolle, in the East, in Balapreen, I said, out in Finland, wonderful community questions, and many, many more than I haven't mentioned, Bell and Gary, I remember sister Clare, and Clare Cashman, sister, um, not sister Clare, sister Clare Cashman, but a brainchild there, and we need to keep, to stimulate those activists, those people who want to do good, and want to provide facilities for, from the cradle to the grave, literally, but in these cases, uh, for our child care, our child care places, so, Thank you, Deputy. 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