SHANNON is in the grip of a childcare crisis, with too many parents seeking non-existent places with a huge level of difficulty and stress being caused.
That’s the view of Cathal Dillon, a family support worker based in the town.
He is involved with compiling a survey on the current situation, but has no doubt that there is a huge crisis locally, which has been getting worse for years.
“When I began in this role in 2020 I was getting referrals from Tusla, from public health nurses and even perinatal mental health workers in the Maternity Hospital, a new parent might have moved into the community, may have been struggling and not able to access childcare. Even at that stage there weren’t any places available from 0-2 years of age.
“Now all the creches and childcare providers are getting calls on a daily basis asking if there are places available, but they’re just not there.
“So what’s happening is the referrals are coming in, the public health nurses and social workers can access this national childcare scheme and generate what’s called a CHICK number and that technically should give access to free childcare. But you can generate as many numbers as you like, there are no places there.”
The impact on parents in the town is very severe, he feels. “As a family support worker I see this on a weekly basis. Single parents of two or three children, struggling to get their children off to school with no transport, having to push a buggy around all day to and from school runs, bringing the baby to their own mental health and hospital appointments because they don’t have other family or a creche facility to bring them to.
“Many of these parents’ mental health really suffers as a result of the impact that not having enough childcare options in the community creates.”
Siobhan Mulderrig operates Kidz Haven creche, which has capacity for 45 children. She has no doubt there is a severe shortage of childcare in the town.
“Absolutely there is. Myself, I have had waiting lists up to 50 and I’ve now decided to close my waiting list, because all I was doing was taking names to disappoint people. I can’t do that to people.”
She has pushed back the date of her retirement because of the shortage. “I have absolutely no spaces available for the next two years.
“Six of my parents are pregnant at the moment. I was due to close next year, but I can’t. I couldn’t do it to them, I couldn’t leave them with no childcare so I’ve extended for another short period. But I do intend to be closed by the end of 2026.
“I’ve put it off by an extra few years because there is such a demand in the town and such a shortage of spaces. The other main creche could have 150 on the waiting list. My conscience wouldn’t allow me to walk away and leave these people with nothing.”
She sees the desperation of parents who have no options.
“I had a lady here last week with twin babies. She begged me to take her children in next year. I just had to tell her I cannot do it, I do not have the space. She was crying.
“She said she has to go back to work in February and she can’t get any spaces for her children. It’s heartbreaking to see it. Parents have to work, they don’t have a choice in this day and age.
“There is a desperate need for another creche in Shannon, there are plenty of units in the industrial estate that could be made into a creche. It just needs somebody to go in and set it up and for somebody then to take it over and run it.”
The Toddle Inn is the largest creche in the town and Cathal said that manager Cora Devaney recently had a waiting list with 171 children on it, while she said it had become a full time job just answering calls from anxious parents.
On a positive note, he said that St Aidan’s National School are looking at the possibility of developing a childcare facility, which he feels would be very helpful.
“They already have a preschool, they have mainstream education, they’re doing breakfast clubs and that kind of stuff and they’d like to have a creche on site.
“They’re already talking to some businesses to see about getting support. But you’d love to see the Government doing similar things.”
He feels the current planning system doesn’t help, as there are few requirements placed on developers to provide anything other than houses, leaving areas without the facilities future residents will need.
“Estates around the country used have to have something to meet the needs of the community as well as the houses. That happened where the Family Resource Centre in Rinneanna View in Shannon is, where we are based.
“More recently there have been all sorts of incentives to build houses, but nothing for the population that goes with it, to meet the needs of the people who will be in the houses.”
The focus on childcare in the election campaign focused almost exclusively on cost, which isn’t the only issue, Cathal says. “You can have it as cheap as you want, give people grants and things, but it’s no good if the space isn’t there. And that’s the point in Shannon now, the spaces aren’t there.”
The survey has already been responded to by dozens of parents, many of them who have reported serious issues. It can be accessed on the Facebook pages of the Shannon Family Resource Centre and Shannon Community Partnership.
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.