James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is estimated by Pobal, from information provided by respondents to its 2013 annual survey, that there are approximately 24,000 staff employed in the child care sector.

Child care services in this country are provided by private commercial and community child care services and the level of remuneration provided to child care workers and the conditions of employment are matters for the management of these services. I appreciate the considerable contribution of child care staff to the provision of quality child care services and to the delivery of the child care support programmes which are implemented by my Department. Funding in the region of €260 million is provided annually by my Department directly to child care services to provide for the delivery of these support programmes. This funding is a major source of support to participating child care services and has, at a time of economic difficulty, ensured the sustainability of many of these services and also helped significantly to maintain employment levels in the sector.

The early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme for example is provided by almost 4,300 preschool services, which is almost all of the preschool services in the country. Funding totalling almost €175 million is allocated annually to these services for the provision of the free preschool year under the ECCE programme. Despite the budgetary situation that prevailed in recent years, the Government maintained this investment and thereby ensured that participating child care services had a guaranteed source of income. This funding also ensures that many parents who would otherwise not be able to avail of preschool care and education for their children are able to enrol their children for the preschool provision.

The ECCE programme also provides a higher rate of capitation to participating child care providers who wish to employ staff that hold a higher level of child care qualifications. This higher rate of funding enables child care providers to provide employment opportunities to child care staff who have obtained professional child care qualifications. This is an important incentive for child care providers to improve the quality of the child care provision. In the school year 2013-14, more than 1,400 child care services received sanction from this Department for the higher capitation rate in accordance with the terms and conditions of the programme.

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