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THE EARLY CHILDHOOD Ireland Barometer 2025, released today, shows extensive recognition by the Irish public of the importance and value of Early Years and School Age Care, with two-thirds of Irish adults agreeing that the education of children aged under five is as important as the education of children aged over five.
For many years, Early Years and School Age Care was viewed as a support for working parents. That perspective is finally shifting. Findings in this year’s Barometer demonstrate the public’s perception of Early Years and School Age Care as an integral part of society that plays a crucial role in children’s emotional, cognitive and social development.
The eighth edition of Early Childhood Ireland’s annual poll shows overwhelming public support (76%) across all age brackets and socio-economic backgrounds for access to high-quality Early Years and School Age Care for all children, with three-quarters in favour of free Early Years provision.
It is clear that the Irish public recognises Early Years and School Age Care as a public good, so the question is: why isn’t this a national priority?
The new government has promised to take steps to improve affordability for families, but much more needs to be done to address enduring issues, including the recruitment and retention of staff and nationwide waiting lists. Thousands of young children are waiting for a crèche place, and it’s obvious that we are nowhere near delivering the access that more than three-quarters of people in Ireland believe every child should have.
The government’s commitments to addressing affordability will fall short if they do not also reform capacity planning in every community and do much more to lift the terms and conditions of the 30,000-strong workforce. Lower fees will mean very little if there are no places for children, and no qualified educators to care for them.
To meet public expectations and the rights of children, we need major progress on long-term capacity planning, locally and nationally. To support the dedicated educators and practitioners who work in 4,700 settings, much faster progress needs to be made in the areas of pay and overall career development for staff. There is public support for improving conditions for Early Years educators, with over half of adults in agreement that staff in crèches who have university degrees should have the same terms and conditions as teachers in primary schools.
It continues to be a source of shame that the government fails to give adequate recognition to those educating our youngest citizens. Without parity of pay and conditions, we will continue to lose talented Early Years and School Age Care graduates to other areas, and the staffing shortage in settings will persist.
This year’s Barometer also highlights strong support for parents to receive better financial assistance to stay at home with their child for the first 12 months, with 65% of the public in favour, up 3% from last year’s results. Research shows benefits for children’s development from having a parent or guardian at home in the first year of life.
At Early Childhood Ireland, we have been calling for the government to guarantee 66% of a parent or guardian’s income, in line with the European Commission recommendations, to ensure parents can afford to stay at home during this crucial period.
Despite progress by the last two governments, new reports from the OECD and the European Commission show the legacy of underinvestment here in Ireland. These reports underline that addressing affordability is simply not enough. To strengthen the sustainability of settings, and as Ireland moves towards a publicly funded model, the new government needs to commit to greater investment that will address funding, planning and staffing issues urgently.
The 2025 Barometer clearly demonstrates broad public support for a high-quality, accessible Early Years and School Age Care system. Now is the time for the new government to translate these public sentiments into tangible and lasting changes. Every child in every community should have guaranteed access to this public good as their right and only strong political leadership will get Ireland to where it urgently needs to be.
Frances Byrne is Director of Policy at Early Childhood Ireland.
Censoring again with a DOB article below….
Enda and him go way back!!
Ah don’t worry sure Enda hasn’t been near DOB since they shared a platform in the New York stock exchange……
Sorry, I know this has nothing to do with this article but I just had to give our Enda a wee mention. “What happened in the past is in the past” he says. Well, will someone please remind him of this statement when he next tries to bring up what Gerry et al allegedly got up to in the past, as a means of deflecting from FG fu@k ups.
Vincent Brown on at moment a+e is going to go
He’s in right form!
When the first inmate dies as a result of the closure,they will reopen it but how many law abiding,decent people will die in the interim.
Shame of labour for their complete sellout of the workers of Ireland
It will take decades to sort out the mess that is the HSE, truth be told. There is not one person, not one, in this current or any previous gov formation that has the wherwithall or baĺls to take it on board and deal with it.
Why oh why is the department of health given to anyone who 1. Does not understand health and 2. Not understand a balance sheet.
Why is the health of the nation under the remit of someone so unqualified for the job at hand?
And even up to the end of April, how many people bought private HI, and arent even covered for a Elastoplast waterproof plaster?
I propose that the next government put in a mandate..remove the minister for health from gov shackles, put in a person qualified to run a company/business as large as the HSE.
I know I’ll probably be red thumbed to bits but on this I dont care. The mess that is the HSE has to be dealt with.
Couldn’t agree more.
Be proud of Enda and co ensuring the welfare of the Irish citizen is the priority – not.
Have they ever heard of Naas? It’s twenty minutes up the motorway.
And Tullamore half an hour away too. Ask any local person in the area and they’ll have a horror story about Portlaoise hospital. It’s not fit for purpose.
Do you know each and every one of us Karen? I don’t remember giving you my opinion on the matter.
speak for yourself karen. a drive to naas and tullamore are a journey I’d rather not take when it’s life or death when there’s an a&e a few minutes away. portlaoise serves more than the town it serves many, many people from many other areas. It should be invested in and run better, not just thrown away. It’s always the way in ireland when things are broken they don’t fix it they close them up and put pressure on somewhere else in this instance other hospitals which will be swamped by the overflow from portlaoise.
Good on you Journal watching the people’s debate .
Can we comment on inda’s black eye in the video there? Same side noonan took a smack on a few weeks back. Coincidence?
Woohoo… not blocked on this account yet. Has been difficult trying to comment with the truth lately.
They must have a screw loose.
Yes Prison Officers will have to travel further if Portlaoise A+E closes the same as Castherea officers have to since the closure of ROSCOMMON A+E was closed 4 years ago. And no-one is mentioning the cost of all the extra ambulances that are being called in from a private Ambulance service since the closure and then also the extra cost to the prison service for the long escorts too that has been incurred.Reilly,Kenny,Gilmore,Burton and their merry little men for making up all the lies that they have done but the people of Ireland have woken up and We the people will not tolerate this shambles that Fine Gael and Labour have totally destroyed our Health System they are spending millions every year because of the closure of the A+E’s since taking office.The lies continues…This Government have spent more money to keep Roscommon A+E closed with the overtime to the ambulance service and the cost of employing Private Ambulance Service.They are spending €20million on Roscommon Hospital trying to placate the people of Roscommon and telling us that the hospital is safer now that the A+E is closed.Yes it is Safer but so will all hospitals that have their A+E’s closed cos there are no patients brought in by ambulances from RTA’s or strokes or heart attacks etc a stupid comment to make and these comments are made by the very people who are supposed to be intelligent educated people and they think we the people will vote for them I have three dogs that would do a better job than them
Roscommon A&E could be open 48 hours a day, and it still would be the wrong place to have a heart attack or stroke.
Heart attack – treated with reopening the artery with stents – need a cath lab and a team of cardiologists and specialists nurses.
Stroke – treated with clot busting drugs – need a CT scan +/- MRI, radiologists, and neurologists.
Roscommon/Port Laoise are too small to provide the specialist treatment people deserve – be it cancer care, cardiac or trauma care.
Roscommon A&E was closed on lies and false figures Roscommon had a very good Cardiac unit with specialised staff small yes but very successful The dogs on the street knows why Kenny closed Roscommon A+E yes he wanted to destroy Denis Naughton but hey Denis is a very well respected in Roscommon for his honesty hard work and his locality
Roscommon A&E could be open 72 hours a day and still the closest cath lab would be in Galway.
Sitting in a “cardiac unit” in Roscommon isn’t the treatment for a heart attack. An angiogram and stents is.
If I had a heart attack – I want to see a cardiologist- not a general medical consultant. Likewise for stroke – I want a stroke specialist and care in a specialist stroke ward. Roscommon is too small to have these services.
Can the prisoners not be sedated ( with a valium or something) would make it a lot easier for them to be brought to the hospital.
Several hours??? Your in portlaoise not Outer Mongolia. It’s less than an hour from Dublin. Jesus Christ wtf is wrong with these people.
A few minutes is all it takes between life and death. Portlaoise hospital and a&e dept serves a huge catchment area. Unfortunately somebody having a heart attack or stroke etc does not have the luxury of having a few hours to allow them to get to a Dublin hospital for treatment. And yes it could take that long to get there. First of all you have to wait God knows how long for an ambulance to even get to you in the first place. The a&e dept cannot close. Lives will be lost.
” Defund, let system break down, the public get angry, offer ‘only solution’ – hand over to private capital ” – N.C.
Denis O’Brien is waiting with his private hospitals, Brian Cowen at the helm, – for health insurance to be made compulsory for everyone.
And of course, like the water charges, The government will scare, & bully the citizens with the usual threats of ‘having it taken directly from wages/welfare, pocket money, whatever.
Brian Cowen pushed for privatisation of the health service when he was Taoiseach, – I wonder why…
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