The owner of preschool in West Cork says she's been left with no other option but to go private and charge her own rates.
Averil Sheehan who owns Care-A-Lot Childcare in Innishannon must now pay an extra 50,000 euro a year to staff because of increased rates, sick days and pension contributions but will only get extra core funding of around 12 thousand euro.
Preschool owners closed their doors for three days and protested outside the Dáil and City Hall at the end of August hoping the Government would increase the rate of 69 euro per child per week in yesterday's budget.
Speaking to RedFM News, Averil Sheehan of Care-A-Lot Childcare says she will have to come off the Government scheme after they didn't increase the rate yesterday:
"I'll end up coming off all schemes come January, and I'd have to increase my fees and I'll be going exclusively private, like the secondary schools out there, you know that you go to and pay €4,500 or whatever. I'm going to have to go exclusively private. I will lose staff, I'll end up having to give staff redundancy. I' end up losing some parents who won't be able to afford my service, but I have to go down the exclusively private kind of route. And sell my business is something amazing, which it is."
