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Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the government will have to compensate child care providers to ensure that access to child care is guaranteed and provided to front-line workers during the Covid-19 crisis.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Sarah McInerney, she said that no one can give an idea of how much this will cost, if insurance is requested, but the first proposal to provide childcare solutions has “fallen flat on its face” and something has to be done about it. theme.
This, he said, is the only thing responsible for doing.
Ms. McDonald said this is not the first time that there have been problems with insurance and child care providers and she is concerned that she is “raising her head again.”
He noted that schools in Northern Ireland have remained open to children of front-line workers.
She said she was alarmed because Eamonn Donnelly, of the Fórsa union, heard for the first time that the plan should be canceled in the news and this, she said, shows a real problem in communication.
Ms. McDonald said a lot of work must be done before the children can return to child care facilities and schools, but her group is eager for this to happen.
The work involved in making this possible, he said, includes practical considerations, such as classroom design and delivery and pickup.
This work should be underway now, he said.
Fine Gael TD and member of the Dáil Committee on Covid-19 Jennifer Carroll McNeil said she is extremely concerned about Sinn Féin’s proposal for a general guarantee, as the state faces a fiscal deficit of potentially tens of billions of euros.
This suggestion by Ms. McDonald, she said, “borders on populist” and is “misconceived.”
She said the government is trying to balance public health needs and the need to support workers of all kinds, particularly front-line workers.
She said the Health Service Executive has been asked to provide all the flexibility to help workers with child care needs.
Ms Carroll McNeill said the Government has provided a variety of supports to each sector and that every effort is now being made to ensure that daycare centers are reopened for key workers on June 29.
There are parents across the country, he said, who struggle at home every day in the context of an unprecedented pandemic and no one wants to make the kinds of decisions that are currently being made.
Speaking about the same program, he said it is very clear that the emerging evidence regarding children and Covid-19 is an intermediate approach, but it is not definitive.
She said she expected schools to reopen in September, and as the mother of a 4-and-a-half-year-old child, she understood parents’ concerns about children and their capacity for social distance, but said we should also consider child development.
Fórsa has said that the state must contribute to the cost of childcare for essential workers after the scheme to support health workers was eliminated.
The union’s health and wellness division chief, Eamonn Donnelly, said that given the phenomenal efforts essential workers make to go to work, it would surely be simpler to help them with the costs to cover the ad-hoc arrangements they have made to child care, which has included them using annual vacations or paying for private child care.
Donnelly said, “It is quite clear at this stage that childcare provision is a model that has not been thought to the point that it will be successful.”
He said Forsa believes that a proposal to contribute to costs is the only solution and has been on the table for six weeks.
INMO ‘not surprised’ by cancellation of child care plan
Previously, the Secretary General of the Irish Organization of Nurses and Midwives said she was not surprised by the cancellation of a proposed childcare plan for frontline healthcare workers.
Phil Ní Sheaghdha, who spoke on RTÉ’s Morning Morning, said INMO raised a number of concerns and asked questions of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs when the plan was announced.
It was announced last night that the plan, which would have had temporary child care for health workers in their homes, was canceled due to low acceptance.
The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Katherine Zappone, said that only six child care providers had signed up to be part of the service.
Ms. Ní Sheaghdha said it was “obvious” that providers and health workers had not been consulted.
“I suppose it is a small lesson: You have to enter into consultations with those who will use the service, but also with those whom you hope to provide.”
He added that a solution is urgently needed to get essential health care workers back to work without bearing the burden of child care, and that this solution should come after consultation with INMO, child care providers and others. unions representing frontline health care workers.
Ms. Ní Sheaghda added that there are other issues of concern to consider.
“We are still very absent due to infection of our Covid-19 members,” he said. “Therefore, we are genuinely concerned about staffing levels and our ability to provide a service. We see numbers of streetcars that shouldn’t be happening. In no way should we be overcrowded in any department.”
Labor Senator Marie Sherlock described the cancellation of the plan as an “extremely frustrating” situation.
Speaking about the same program, he said that while there would always be problems with Garda verification and insurance, it is “disappointing” that those problems are not addressed.
One of the reasons given for the low acceptance is the availability of insurance coverage, which Senator Sherlock described as a “major problem.”
She said she has spoken to healthcare workers who have had to take annual vacations to go to work, and suggested that the June 29 date for re-opening of day care centers could be re-examined and possibly brought forward.
“On the other hand, there are no details to raise confidence that these facilities can be safely reopened on that date,” said Senator Sherlock.
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The Tigers Childcare executive director said the staff had several concerns about going to the homes of health workers to care for the children.
Karen Clince said that only eight of the 183 Tigers employees signed up for the proposed scheme.
She said the government should have consulted with child care providers to see how they can reopen the facilities instead of sending workers to people’s homes.
The government needs to “think outside the box,” he said, and work with providers to see a return to daycare earlier.
Ms. Clince added that she does not see a viable reduction in the number of children attending facilities as a viable option, but that sanitation and cleaning are important to the safe management of day care centers and other child care settings.
The executive director of the National Parent Council said the sooner children can return to school, the better, but it must be done in accordance with best public health practices.
Áine Lynch said she has not participated in any discussions about reopening schools during the summer months, but added that if it is an option, sixth-class students and vulnerable students should be prioritized.
Lynch said that while many parents are eager for their children to return to school, some are concerned about the idea.
The president of the Infectious Diseases Society of Ireland, Karina Butler, said that while adults will need social distance when schools and kindergartens are reopened, it is impractical to expect young children to do so.
However, she asked if the stress currently applied to children who are forced to stay away from family and friends outweighs these risks.
Whatever happens, he added, the reopening of schools and daycares will be a slow process.
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