Low pay, poor career prospects and long periods off-payroll during the summer months has led to turnover in the childcare sector of up to 22%, it has been claimed.

At Impact trade union’s education conference in Dublin yesterday, it unveiled plans to work with employers in the early years sector to seek increased state funding and the professionalisation of the industry “so that staff providing quality services can be properly rewarded”. The union’s deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan accused politicians of abandoning the childcare issue less than a month after the election.

“The cost and quality of childcare was one of the biggest issues in February’s General Election,” he said, “A month later, it already seems to have fallen off the political agenda. The issue has barely appeared on the priority lists drawn up by the mainly middle-aged men involved in discussions on the make-up of a government.” He said in the meantime Ireland lags behind most European countries when it comes to investment in early care and education.

“That’s why Irish parents face among the highest childcare costs in Europe, while staff in the sector — including well-qualified professionals — are among the lowest paid in our economy,” he said.

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