Debate contribution: Childcare: High-quality and Affordable Provision

Debate contribution by Ms Liz Kimmins on 12 February 2024.

MLA

Ms Liz Kimmins

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

12 February 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Childcare: High-quality and Affordable Provision

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4218121

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Phríomh-Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I congratulate you on your new role. You have handled it very well today. I want to thank all the Members who have spoken today. It has been a really positive debate. My party tabled the motion as childcare is a significant priority for us, but it is also safe to say, given the unanimous support across the Chamber, that it is a priority for all parties. The point has been well made on just how important early education and childcare are. There is strong evidence to show how crucial that window in a child's life is to their development. It is also a crucial opportunity to identify issues or difficulties that a child might have and is key to getting the right support in place at the earliest possible stage. As a working parent, like many others have described, I am acutely aware of the huge challenges in accessing childcare, due to the lack of capacity, and the challenges that providers and those working across the sector face because those challenges continue to grow. That includes the rise in energy costs for self-employed childminders operating from their own homes and those in childcare facilities trying to pay their staff fairly in the context of competing pay, which is forcing them, as we have seen in the last week alone, to close their doors.

Highly qualified, experienced workers are being lost to other jobs with better pay and conditions, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract and maintain staff, as we have heard on countless occasions and even in this debate. We need to ensure that staff working across the sector are properly valued and respected for the excellent work that they do, which has an increasingly wide and complex range of responsibilities. It is no wonder that many of them are walking away from a job that they love, a job that is, it is fair to say, a vocation for many, to jobs that offer better pay and conditions but maybe do not give them the same satisfaction and value.

As we have heard from many Members today, we cannot continue to push the rising costs on to already hard-pressed parents and families, and we need to put in place the right support to stop that cycle. Investment in a childcare strategy that is co-designed with families, providers, trade unions and workers to fully address the challenges that they face will have far-reaching benefits across society. The huge cost of childcare for families is untenable for the vast majority of parents, and we need to work together to deliver on this critical issue. The provision of affordable childcare that is accessible to all — not just for those who can afford it and, as others mentioned, not just for those who have children of a certain age — will have a huge impact in boosting economic activity, particularly for women, which is important not only for our economy but for the well-being of parents who can get back into the workplace and an adult environment. I know from when my children were maybe nine months to a year that you cannot wait to get back into the workplace and have that balance in your life. The strategy will also help, as we have discussed, the vast workforce challenges that we see across our key public services. In health, education and infrastructure, positions can be fulfilled predominantly by women, yet, largely, those are the people facing the barriers that we have talked about today. Many have talked about the significant cost, and the Minister referred to the cost of investment in childcare to date, but it is important to understand that, if we get this right, we have a real opportunity to transform society for the better. Whilst there will be initial costs, and those must not be understated, there will be benefits across every sector.

650 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:36 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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