Coronavirus: Calls for Government to bail out childcare sector

There has been calls for the Government to bail out the childcare sector which is under serious strain since thebeggining of the coronavirus outbreak.

Elaine Dunne of the Federation of Childhood Providers has warned that if the childcare sector does not receive some form of emergency funding then the sector will be gone.

“It is up to the government to give us some sort of bail out,” she told RTÉ radio’s Today with Séan O’Rourke show.

Her comment comes following reports that parents are being asked to pay a holding fee to ensure their child’s place in childcare facilities.

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Ms Dunne said that any contributions from parents are what are keeping childcare facilities going.

Childcare facilities including creches, nurseries and childminders have been closed for almost two weeks in a bid to dampen the spread of coronavirus, also known as Covid-19.

She also said that no one in the childcare sector had been consulted about proposals for facilities to be used to care for the children of health care workers.

Ms Dunne said that any nurses she had spoken to wanted someone to live in to care for their children rather than having someone come in and out and risk transmission of the virus.