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