Sir, - The Minister for Finance didn't get it all wrong. The measures to consolidate and improve the supply of childcare must be welcomed, especially the £10 million grants scheme for those catering for up to 20 children. This will have a significant effect in maintaining sessional services (morning or afternoon playgroups, pre-schools, etc.) and improving both quality and supply.
Quality will also be addressed by the announcement from the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Minister for Children of arrangements for a national childcare infrastructure (The Irish Times, December 4th). This is a significant first step in implementing one of the key elements of the National Childcare Strategy published last February. Once the co-ordinating bodies, both national and at county level, are in place, the development of early childhood care and education can be managed in a coherent, integrated way.
It is deplorable that support for parents with the costs of childcare, and especially for those parents living in poverty, was not specifically addressed in the Budget. When all the research tells us that up to one in three children in Ireland live in poverty, this is a major gap in the Finance Minister's childcare plans. - Yours, etc.,
Hilary Kenny, Director of Services, IPPA, The Early Childhood Organisation, Spade Enterprise Centre, North King Street, Dublin 7.