Childminding Ireland can no longer support either the current review process or the direction of the new childminding system.
Childminding Ireland believes Ireland is now facing a very real risk of a mass exodus from childminding unless significant changes are made to the new childminding system and the wider direction of policy.
Of an estimated 13,000 childminders nationwide, only 166 (as of Feb 26) have registered to date. That should raise alarm. It is a strong indication that the system being developed is not working in practice for the vast majority of home-based childminders.
The policy contradiction is becoming impossible to ignore. Government, earlier this year, announced €135 million in State-led childcare capital investment and a wider €188 million infrastructure commitment to create additional childcare capacity, while the new childminding system risks substantially reducing Ireland’s largest existing source of flexible childcare.
If thousands of childminders leave, the State may ultimately find itself spending vast amounts of public money trying to replace childcare capacity that already exists today but that the State’s new childminding system risks destroying.
Childminders are not rejecting safeguarding or quality standards. The overwhelming message we are hearing is that many simply do not see themselves surviving within a system that treats home based childminding like small scale institutional childcare.
The concerns being raised are practical, cumulative and deeply connected to the nature of childminding itself. Childminders are worried about the loss of flexibility, excessive paperwork, complex administrative requirements, restrictions around emergency cover, and regulations that they feel do not properly reflect the realities of working alone from a family home.
Families choose childminding because it is personal, relationship based, flexible and home centred. Parents are choosing a person they trust, not an institution. Many childminders now fear that the system is slowly removing the very qualities that make childminding so valuable to families in the first place.
There is also a fundamental issue of parental choice being overlooked. Parents have a right to choose the type of childcare that best suits their child and their family circumstances. Many families actively choose childminding because they value the home environment, continuity of care, flexibility, mixed age groups and trusted long-term relationships that childminding provides.
That choice matters. Yet many parents, who are aware of this new system, now fear that choice is slowly disappearing as the new system risks regulating childminding out of existence.
What is particularly worrying is the growing silence across the sector. Many childminders are quietly concluding they have no future in childminding under the new system and are considering leaving rather than entering a model they believe does not fit home based care.
If that happens, Ireland will lose thousands of flexible local childcare places at a time when the country is already experiencing significant childcare capacity pressures. The families most affected are likely to be those who rely most on childminding, including babies, siblings, rural communities and parents working non-standard hours.
We are now asking both parents and childminders to speak up before it is too late. Childminding matters to thousands of families across Ireland and decision makers urgently need to hear directly from the people who rely on it every day.
We are encouraging childminders and parents to contact their local TDs, raise concerns about the current direction of the system, and support calls for a meaningful system wide review before mandatory registration comes into force in Sept 2027.
A new childminding system should be about promoting and supporting quality childminding, respecting parental choice, and recruiting and retaining experienced childminders. Instead, the current system is driving childminders out, reducing childcare capacity, and limiting the choices available to families.
At a time of deepening national childcare shortages, Ireland cannot afford a system that risks dismantling the most flexible, trusted and family-based form of childcare we have.
Further Information
CMI has sent Minister Norma Foley a letter outlining concerns. Read it here.
Childminding Ireland raised concerns about new childminding regulations at Committee for Children hearing. You can learn more about this here.
In November Childminding Ireland warned that up to 80% of childminders could close ahead of new excessive childminding system. You can understand more about this here.