Daily hour extension would cause ‘chaos’, says Cork councillor and former pre-school manager

A member of Cork City Council has claimed that a mooted daily one-hour extension of free pre-school attendance risks creating “timetable chaos” in already overstretched services.

Earlier this week, it was reported that children’s minister Norma Foley was considering proposals to add an extra hour a day in the second year of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme.

ECCE currently provides three hours a day of free pre-school, for two years. It runs for five days a week, 38 weeks of the year, with a summer break.

The Irish Independent reported that Ms Foley is considering an additional hour per day as part of Budget 2026.

Ciara O’Connor, a Labour Party member of Cork City Council who is a former early years professional and a former pre-school manager, warned that services were already overstretched and an extra hour to ECCE in the second year would make things worse.

She called instead for a publicly- funded system of early childhood education and care, the urgent activation of idle creche spaces in new estates, and a workforce plan to recruit and retain educators.

“Children absolutely benefit from high-quality early-years education, including vital social interaction with peers, but bolting on an extra ECCE hour without fixing capacity and staffing will backfire,” she said. “Families in Cork need places, not headlines.

“Open the empty rooms, invest in the workforce, and build a public system that works for children, parents, and providers.”

The shortage of pre-school places in Cork was acute, she said, with thousands of children under three on waiting lists citywide.

In Bishopstown, she added, one ECCE provider reported a waiting list of more than 60 children, many from families where the parents work in Cork University Hospital, often without extended family support nearby.

“If our healthcare professionals can’t access childcare, they can’t cover shifts,” she said. “That hits hospital rosters and patient care.

“Lack of childcare also keeps parents — especially mothers —out of the workforce, and it limits children’s development when they miss out on regular, structured social interaction with their peers.”

Ms O’Connor said she had tabled a motion calling on city council to carry out an audit of all non-operational creche units delivered under planning conditions.

She proposed lease-to-operate options and fit-out supports so community, not-for-profit, and experienced providers could open quickly and sustainably. “Council officials have recognised the problem, however, it is support from Government is what is needed, with Government backing for fit-out and early staffing costs, we can turn keys in these doors and deliver places where families were promised them,” she said.

Ms O’Connor cautioned that changing ECCE hours without co-design risked fewer places and greater disruption.

The Department of Children, Disability and Equality was asked for comment.