Nursery World - Fifth of settings lack staff in Ireland

High staff turnover, fewer childcare places and growing waiting lists characterise the current state of the Irish childcare sector, finds a new report.

According to ‘2016/2017 Early Years Sector Profile’, published last week by not-for-profit company Pobal for the Irish Government, 21 per cent of settings reported having at least one staff vacancy.

This compares with a recent survey showing nearly half of childcare settings in England lacking staff.

There are 24,000 staff in the Irish childcare sector. However, in the 12 months prior to May, there was an increase in annual staff turnover.

Comparing the profile findings to those of a survey of Irish community and voluntary sector nurseries in 2015, annual staff turnover has more than tripled from 8.2 per cent to 28.2 per cent over a year.

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