Derry parents and childcare workers 'devastated' at Pathway funding cuts

The Pathway Fund provided £273,164.52 to 13 Derry organisations, some of whom provide vital early years services for children in deprived areas of the city. The funding cut will result in some services operating at a reduced rate while others will have to close altogether.

Edel Carlin from Tiny Tots said: “We’re just absolutely devastated. I’ve been there two years now and we’ve had situations like this before but they’ve never been as bad as this.

“We just don’t know what to do now. We’re still keeping hope going, we come in in the morning with an upbeat attitude to keep the wee ones going but that’s all we can do.

“At this young age, the children need these groups and when you see their development coming on throughout the year, it's just amazing to see. We see the difference completely when they come to us in September, right up to June and can see how important the work we do is.”

The creche in Waterside Women’s Centre may be forced to close because of these cuts. Nuala Crilly, from the centre, says that their services will be heavily impacted when there is no childcare available for their attendees.

She said: "These cuts add to that level of uncertainty that women’s sector organisations are currently facing. The whole sector has been impacted but the women's sector seems there's a lack of understanding about the crucial nature of women's sectors and creches and childcare facilities and supporting women back into training and education.

“One of the government goals is to reduce economic inactivity numbers – a huge proportion of those people are women trying to re-enter the labour market. There seems a total disconnect by what they're doing and once again it's the voices of those most marginalised that aren't been heard and their services have been cut.

“It's actually a tragedy for the wider women's sector here in Derry and it's going to impact so many people and so many communities. It’s devastating really.”

Gemma Ringland from the Strathfoyle Women and Activity Group said: “These cuts are extremely devastating for the whole community of Strathfoyle. Without the Pathway Fund, the Women's Group wouldn't be able to run in Strathfoyle and if Tiny Tots didn't get their money from the Pathway Fund then it would have a knock-on effect on ourselves as well.

“The people who made these cuts need to think of the knock-on effect is that it's going to have on the younger children that's coming up through. There's not going to be any early intervention services

for the 0-3 age group.”

Dylan O’Kane’s saw a huge improvement in his son’s development while he attended Creggan Preschool and Training Trust (CBTT). His son, who is also called Dylan, received speech and language therapy and other physical therapies and his parents were hoping to send his little sister Winter to CBTT in September but now fear they won’t be able to.

Dylan said: “This is devastating for us and for others. There will be hundreds of children now trying to get into the one class and everybody's going to be left hanging. You're going to have to send them on to a private crèche now and then anybody that hasn't been able to afford private crèche on their own, they're going to get help or funding from the government to go to a private crèche which doesn’t make sense - you're taking them from one to give them another.”

Michelle McKay from the Dunluce Family Centre said: “I’m just really disappointed for the wains and for the staff. We don't know what's happening, people have jobs and houses they run. It's really disappointing and the parents are very disappointed as well now that everything’s all up in the air for September.”

Jennifer Jennings, also from the Dunluce Centre said: “We're actually based in one of the most deprived areas in Northern Ireland, so this funding is needed massively for emotional as well as physical wellbeing - everything.

“When you're coming into such a deprived area you really do need those services that the Dunluce Family Centre provides. We have a serious waiting list at the minute, we have all our places filled for September as well as the waiting list.”

Margaret Kirk, Centre Manager of Little Orchids said: “We were absolutely devastated. We have children with complex needs in our centre and it's the only centre in the whole of the Western Trust that provides the service that we do for two to four year olds. We don't only support the children, we support their families as well so it's just devastating to the whole Western Trust. Parents are on their knees.”

“The Pathway Fund contributed to 24 of our places and we have 32 places, so it is going to be greatly reduced. Already, we've had to reduce our staff in order to try and run as long as we can.

"This is our children, the most vulnerable children in our society and they don't have a voice for themselves, so we have to do that voice. We provide support to the parents as well and we signpost them to other services that's available for them but otherwise they wouldn't know. We have parents coming on and chatting to us to support them and give the children strategies to do it at home as well.

“For people that are targeting our vulnerable children in society, it's just unacceptable.”

Affected by these cuts are: Caw Community Playgroup; Foyle Down Syndrome Trust; Dunluce Family Centre; Little Orchids; Creggan Preschool and Training Trust; Strathfoyle Women & Activity Group; Jack & Jill Childcare; Rainbow Child & Family Centre; Foyle Women’s Aid; Treehouse Creche; Derry Well Women; and Waterside Women’s Centre.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said: “The Department has yet to receive its confirmed budget allocation for 2023-24 but the indicative allocation from the Northern Ireland Office is extremely challenging and would require further significant reductions across a wide range of areas to remain within budget.

“In recent years, the Pathway Fund has benefited from £2.3m Confidence and Supply monies (annually) which has now come to an end.

“However, to sustain important Early Years services over the next three months, DE has made an interim allocation of funding of £1.05m in respect of the Pathway Fund for the period 1 April 2023 to 30 June 2023.

“The Department will confirm the final Pathway Fund allocation following confirmation of the education budget.

“Regrettably, should the interim budget position remain unchanged, it is likely that the Pathway Fund will have to cease at the end of June 2023 if additional funding is not made available.”

An online petition has been set up to oppose the cuts and it has over 5,500 signatures already. The petition is available at https://chng.it/PbtwJDzBtJ .