Working conditions must be addressed before extending scheme, inquiry hears
The Government’s plans to offer children a second year of free pre-school education should not go ahead before major problems with existing services are overcome, an Oireachtas inquiry has urged.
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin announced in October that the Early Childhood Care and Education scheme would be available to all children, between the ages of three and 5½, from September 2016.
Currently it is available for a 38-week period in one year to children aged between three years and two months and four years and seven months.
However, the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children said working conditions and quality issues in childcare centres must be addressed before such expansion.
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