Sir, – Again we see the crises in our early childhood education and care system making headlines, not once, but twice in one week. On July 17th Emmett Malone reported on a pay ballot for creche workers (“Thousands of creche and early education staff to be balloted on pay proposals”, July 17th) while the next day, Ellen Coyne and Órla Ryan reported that a Dublin creche chain had overcharged parents thousands of euro (“Dublin creche raising fees following order to refund over €116,000 owed to parents”, Page 5, July 18th).Both these stories reflect the increasing financialisation of the sector and the growth of multisite chain providers, driven and underpinned by a profit imperative. According to Pobal, about 300 new services have opened since 2021; however, the number of operators has reduced slightly. This points to an increase of multisite operators – chain providers, many of which are backed by offshore equity funds, attracted by the profits to be made on State funding, high parent fees, and low staff wages. These three elements are the holy trinity for profiteering in the sector; any attempt to alter these will be fought by the investor groups. This business model is in direct contrast to the model care that privileges the wellbeing of children, families and educators, prioritising staff retention, valuing trusting relationships with families, while delivering a child-centred slow and nurturing pedagogy. We find this in our community/nonprofit early years settings. We also see it in our independent single-site settings, operated by local private providers, at least in those that have not yet been bought out by hungry chains.Our children have the right to receive high-quality early learning and care. However, high quality cannot flourish within a profit-privileging environment. Now, more than ever, we must question if the marketplace is the right place for our children. – Yours, etc, DR SHEILA GARRITY,Associate professor in early childhood educationSchool of Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education, Institute of Education, Dublin City University