Call for public childcare to be delivered in government’s action plan
Published: Tuesday, May 05, 2026
The childcare crisis will not end unless the government takes immediate steps towards a public system of early years education and care. That’s according to the Together for Public Alliance for a Public System of Early Childhood Education and Care, which is made up of 40 organisations calling for a public childcare system, similar to our primary school system.
Today, Wednesday 6th May, the Alliance published a roadmap to public childcare which outlines their vision for how this could happen through the Government’s new Early Years Action Plan Phase 2. One of their key calls is for the State to acquire premises and begin delivering early years education and care directly. They say that an initial €30m could provide 3,000 places under a new publicly delivered system. The National Women’s Council (NWC) chairs the Alliance. Executive Director of NWC, Corrinne Hasson, said:
“There’s a welcome commitment to state-led provision of childcare in Budget 2026, but now we are calling on government to go one step further and actually deliver childcare in some premises. This is the only way out of this crisis. As it stands many families cannot afford childcare, and in most families this means a further increase in unpaid care work for women who already take on a disproportionate amount. Affordable and accessible childcare is the backbone of women’s equality, and the only way it will happen is for the State to take decisive action and overhaul the current system now.”
The Alliance’s roadmap has three key calls which are fundamental to establishing a public childcare system and ending the childcare crisis, including the call to acquire premises and deliver State childcare. They are also calling for improved standards and inclusivity, saying that early years education and care must centre the child, not profits. Childcare must be available, flexible, and accessible for children who have additional needs, for children living in deprived areas, and for children from different ethnic backgrounds, for example.
Gayle Smith, Information and Policy Officer at Treoir, said:
“Right now, many children and parents are falling through the cracks of our for-profit childcare system. Women who do shift work, like our wonderful healthcare workers, find it very hard to get childcare that suits them. Parents of children with additional needs, if they can find a place at all, often travel huge distances to their childcare providers. Migrant women and Traveller women face particular difficulties. All of these issues are compounded for lone parents, the vast majority of whom are women.”
The Alliance is also calling for the State to begin paying educator wages, in much the same way as it pays teachers’ wages. Alex Richardson, NWC policy officer, said:
“At the last general election, government parties made promises to the electorate about reducing childcare fees to under €200. The only feasible way to do this is by the State paying educator wages, which make up 69% of the cost of providing childcare. The childcare workforce of early years educators are predominantly women, and there is a recruitment and retention crisis. Paying them a decent wage and ensuring decent conditions is an obvious way to improve the system for educators, parents and children.”
Gráinne McKenna, Head of School of Language, Literacy & Early Childhood Education at DCU, said:
“Despite increased State investment in early childhood education and care, Ireland has a fragmented and dysfunctional system in which parents face some of the highest fees in Europe, educators endure poor pay and precarious working conditions, and thousands of children remain on waiting lists. The reliance on marketised models means that private equity firms increasingly view early education and care in Ireland as a lucrative investment opportunity, which draws money out of the sector and into the pockets of company directors and profit margins of investment funds. Ireland stands at a critical juncture in the development of early childhood education, and we require systemic reform, moving from a marketised model to a competent public ECEC system that uses government funding to serve the public good. A well-funded, public early childhood education and care system will support the financial viability and sustainability of independent operators and community-based not-for-profit services, keeping investment in early childhood in the sector.”
At the launch event today, politicians heard from Gráinne McKenna (DCU), Lynette Monk (SIPTU), Gayle Smith (Treoir) and Anne Waithira Burke (AkidWa). Anne shared testimony from two women living in the IPAS system.