STEPS TO MAINTAIN standards of care following a damning RTÉ investigation last year have ‘not been enough’, Early Childhood Ireland has said.
The programme, ‘A Breach of Trust’, broadcast close to a year ago showed the mistreatment of children at a number of Irish childcare facilities.
One piece of footage showed a child being picked up off their mattress and slammed down on the other end of the mattress, with a blanket thrown then over them.
RTÉ did not post the programme online or broadcast a repeat at the request of parents.
“There were deafening calls, from every political party, for essential changes and investment to improve the quality and standards in the early childhood care and education sector in Ireland,” CEO of Early Childhood Ireland Teresa Heeney said.
Yet when we look at the additional investment made across the sector since Primetime was aired it is not enough.
However, she welcomed the announcement of an additional €5 million for improvements for childcare services, but described it as a “trickle of the stream of funding that is required”.
Heeney said the sector is “buckling” under the financial strain of stability, adding that she has written to the new Minsiter for Children Charlie Flanagan to seek a meeting in order to clarify where the government’s priorities for funding lie.
“We will be reminding Minister Flanagan and his cabinet colleagues,” she said, “that we can’t have top floor quality standards in childcare on a bargain basement budget.”
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