In their pre-budget submissions, Early Childhood Ireland and Start Strong call upon the Irish Government to invest additional millions into improving the quality and affordability of early years services in the country.
Improving quality
Start Strong’s submission recommends the Government carries out an audit of the quality of early care and education services immediately, as recommended by the Expert Advisory Group on the National Early Years Strategy last year.
It follows the RTE Prime Time ‘Breach of Trust’ TV programme in June 2013, which revealed below standards of care and mistreatment at some of Ireland’s crèches.
Start Strong, a coalition of organisations and individuals committed to advancing high-quality care and education in Ireland, goes on to suggest public funding be conditional on quality, so that when early years services fail to meet standards their funding is withdrawn.
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