Childcare crisis: an extra hour won’t fix it

Empty crèche units, long waiting lists and staff shortages show why Cork needs a publicly funded childcare model, says Labour city councillor Ciara O’Connor.

The former preschool manager has warned that Government plans to add an extra hour to Year 2 of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) scheme will create timetable chaos in already stretched services.

“Children benefit from high-quality early years education — but bolting on an extra hour without fixing capacity and staffing will backfire,” she said. “Families in Cork need places, not headlines. Open the empty rooms, invest in the workforce, and build a public system that works for children, parents and providers.”

Cork’s shortage is severe. Thousands of under-threes are on waiting lists across the city. In Bishopstown, one provider has more than 60 children waiting, many from families where parents work in Cork University Hospital and lack extended family support.

“If healthcare professionals can’t access childcare, they can’t cover shifts. That hits hospital rosters and patient care,” said Cllr O’Connor. “Lack of childcare also keeps parents — especially mothers — out of the workforce and it limits children’s development.”

Local providers have also raised concerns. One Bishopstown service called the proposal “very poorly thought out”.

“I can see how it might work in a full daycare setting,” the provider said, “but in a two-session service like mine, it’s just not feasible. Adding an extra hour means some children leave earlier than their peers, which will be chaotic for staff and unsettling for children. Parents with siblings a year apart would face split pick-ups. I wouldn’t be surprised if this forces many two-session settings to drop to just one session per day.”

At council level, Cllr O’Connor has tabled a motion to activate purpose-built crèche units delivered under planning conditions but left idle. She secured acknowledgement from Cork City Council that the problem is citywide and pressed for an audit of all unopened units and a time-bound action plan.

“With Government backing for fit-out and staffing costs, we can turn keys in these doors and deliver places where families were promised them,” she said.

She welcomed St Anne’s Day Nursery taking over Bishopstown Community Preschool in Murphy’s Farm. “This is exactly the kind of community-based service we must support — but goodwill isn’t enough. We need the funding model and workforce supports to ensure providers like this can thrive and expand.”

Cllr O’Connor warned that changing ECCE hours without proper planning could reduce capacity. “The answer is not an off-the-cuff fix,” she said. “It’s a public childcare model, backed by investment and a workforce plan, alongside immediate action to open the empty crèche units already built in our estates.”

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.