Parents set to lose afterschool service

Some “stressed” parents in east Cavan are scrambling to put in place after school childcare after a local provider signalled her intention to close her service following a dispute with the Department of Children over Core Funding.

Scallywags Childcare in Virginia has taken the difficult decision to close its afterschool service as it is “not financially viable” to continue when funding rules state parents can not pay for transport.

The service use two company vehicles to transport students from St Mary’s National School in the town to the Ballyjamesduff Road facility during evening times. Scallywags had been using a private bus, however due to another run, it was 15 minutes late, which meant children would have to wait.

Owner Catherine Keenan began using her own vehicles to collect children beginning in October 2024. Catherine considered this to be a new service for eight year olds upwards as they had not been catered for before this time. Due to this, she thought she was entitled to charge for transport without affecting her Core Funding.

A request via letter that parents make a contribution to this particular service was made in November of the same year, following which, Scallywags’ fees underwent a review process.

Ms Keenan received correspondence from the Department of Children National Fee Review Team, seen by The Anglo-Celt, in June of this year to say that there was “no breach” of the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement.

“Nothing was charged” until September 2025, after the facility received this correspondence.

“They said in June that we weren’t in breach, but then when they came back to us in November when they said we were in breach,” said Catherine.

Eighteen days later, she called the parents to a meeting to say that, if she couldn’t charge for transportation costs, afterschool would cease operation on December 23.

“It was horrible. It was something that we definitely didn’t want to do,” she says of the announcement.

“It was very emotional all round for everybody. As a working mum with three kids I understand the importance of afterschool.”

Catherine maintains she was left with no choice: “It’s just not financially viable to run the bus.”

She estimates it costs approximately €20,000 for the year to use her own vehicles.

The Core Funding is not sufficient to run the service for “after schoolers”, says Catherine.

Now, the Virginia service provider has until February 26 to refund parents based on breaches found by the fee review team, a total of €9,000.

“I’m very upset about it because it’s a service I provided for them. We did this because we were told we could, we were not in breach of core funding in relation to our transport,” she believed.

Another matter arose whereby Catherine provided fewer hot meals from October 2024, as children had received a hot meal in school and, she claims, results of a survey of parents showed they did not want their children to receive another hot dinner. Scallywags instead provided a snack to the children on days they did not have a hot meal.

Despite Core Funding regulations suggesting otherwise, fees were not reduced as Catherine opines: “Reality is - it costs as much to do snacks as it does dinners.

“Children were receiving hot dinners in school and they weren’t eating them here.

“We surveyed parents and based on the results we went from the five [hot meals] to the two or three.

“That’s deemed in breach now, we have to go back to five hot dinners,” she says, however adds that this will not apply as she predicts they “won’t have afterschool”.

While she is a childcare provider, Catherine is also a business woman.

“You have to make a profit and if it’s not viable it’s not viable.”

Despite the current problem, the provider says she is not considering leaving Core Funding “at this stage” because then her service would “not have access” to any grants or supports that arise as part of being a member.

However, she adds: “It depends on what stage you get to. You can’t constantly keep giving and giving, something has to give. It just has to make financial sense to stay.

“I feel we’re tied to Core Funding because we can’t increase our fees... We’re not even looking for a big increase from the government to allow us to increase fees, we’re just looking for a reasonable [increase].”

However, there is an alternative route whereby the afterschool service could remain open.

If Catherine finds a new premises, she can open another service and “charge whatever I want basically because I am a new service.”

This is because, under the Core Funding rules, anything that had been included as part of the September 30, 2021 fee cannot now be charged for individually, unless there is a proportionate reduction in the original fee, and the new individual charge is entirely optional to parents.

However: Currently, we don’t have anything [premises]” and as it stands, the afterschool service is set to close on December 23.

“It’s never done lightly to close any room off, any service off. We didn’t think we would be in this position because of the letter we received from the government in June, but unfortunately circumstances had changed by the November.”

“We want to keep it here [the service],” she stated.

To the Department of Children, she said: “It’s not reasonable for everything to stay the same as 2021.”

Parents frustrated

Some parents affected by the situation spoke to the Celt under the condition of anonymity, as they do not want their children to be identifiable.

While one parent understands that Scallywags is in breach of Core Funding regulations, the news received on November 25 that the service would close down at the end of the year left them with feelings of “stress and panic”.

“I think it’s this time of year as well, it’s an incredibly busy time of year for families and I think that’s what’s really challenging. It’s just the lack of notice that’s been given.

“Every other childcare provider is full at this stage, we have nowhere else to go.”

Currently, St Mary’s National School in Virginia provides no afterschool service.

“Yeah, stress, frustration and I think that’s generally the sentiment within the entire group [of parents],” the parent surmised.

“A lot of anger,” they added.

Asked if she would be willing to pay the increased fees, the parent replied: “Absolutely, one hundred percent.

“She put up the fees; at the start of every year you are given a booklet with the fees on it. You look at it and you say, ‘of course’. I know in the grand scheme of things in Cavan I am paying nothing in comparison to Dublin.

“This is the most important service for a family unit, the kids are number one priority; their stability and them being looked after.”

“They’re [the children] coming home smiling and that’s the most important thing.

“We are willing to pay,” they affirmed.

However, another parent feels Scallywags are “holding us over a barrel”.

However, Catherine disputes this as she feels that she is the one that is caught in the middle.

Catherine adds: “We were only given ten days to reply to this in November.”

One of the parents is urging the Department to “come to the table” to find a compromise to save the service.

They are very aware that the “reality” is that the service will close at the end of the year, and she has already informed her boss: “I might not have childcare.

“To be fair they are going to try and accommodate me and be as understanding as possible, but at the end of the day that only goes so far.

“It has just caused so much stress and anxiety at a time that is already busy for families.

She wants to see a longer term plan put in place for afterschool facilities for the community generally.

Meanwhile parents are also frustrated with the Department of Children for “not really understanding the impact of their decisions.”

“We’re caught in the firing line between the Department and Catherine.”

Meanwhile, another parent in the area is left “frustrated given the short notice”.

The parent praised the “excellent” staff and said: “I don’t want my child to be uprooted.

“Money is tight enough at this time of year. I am very frustrated at the timing of it.

“It seems very unfair.”

This parent wants the afterschool to “stay open” but feels the situation has been “badly handled” by the Department and Scallywags.

Department - ‘working on this’

Contacted for a statement on the issue, a spokesperson from the Department of Children stated that they are “aware” of the situation regarding the service in question and “the concern of the parents affected”.

“While no details can be shared regarding the specifics of the fee review decision nor the details of the current issue, the Department can confirm that officials are actively working on this and will contact all stakeholders shortly.”

However they also stated: “In order to receive Core Funding, partner services must uphold their contractual obligations regarding their fees charged to parents/guardians as laid out in the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement for 2025/2026, and in the relevant year of a fee review, as such in this case 2024/2025.”

Asked what they are doing to help the provider, the spokesperson stated: “The Department has also made changes to improve the sustainability of providers through, for example, targeted measures for small and sessional services, a fee increase assessment and approval process for services with fees frozen at unsustainably low rates.

“There are also wider financial supports from the Department for services experiencing financial difficulty.”

They also said that a “forward planning model” is in development, which will be “central” to the Department’s plans to achieve the policy goals set out in the Programme for Government to build an “affordable, high-quality, accessible early childhood education and care system, with State-led facilities adding capacity”.

The spokesperson also stated that parents can contact the County Childcare Committee “for support and assistance”.