The Children’s Minister says upcoming childcare closures this month aren’t ‘warranted’.
Creches will be closing across Carlow and Kilkenny and nationally for three days, calling for more funding to avoid having to increase their fees by “at least” 25 to 30 per cent.
The Federation of Early Childhood Providers says many small and medium sized creches are running at a huge loss.
Minister Roderic O’Gorman says the Government has committed to investing in the childcare sector: ”The annual investment in childcare was 638 million euro and this year it’s over a billion. So in three years we have increased it by over 400 million euro. In any sector of state spending that’s a huge increase in a short space of time. It’s not still enough and we want to grow it more.
