Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed that there appears to be an incapacity within the system to get the average working wage for child care workers. I note the reply suggests that because it is a broader social work category which the CSO examines, it is not in a position to look at child care work. That is poor from a policy formulation perspective. We are not in a position to identify officially, and with statistical precision, what the average child care worker is being paid. That will clearly impact on policy development. We have all met with workers in the child care sector and there is a real issue in this regard. In fact, the sector is in crisis because of the downward spiral in wages. Many young students undertook early childhood studies and secured bachelor of arts degrees because, over the last decade, it was considered to be a growing issue and one the country wished to provide for and so forth. My view is that the sector is under the wrong Department. The sooner it is more aligned with education, the better. I tried to do it once but the Department of Justice and Equality wanted the responsibility under the current programme and then it moved to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.

The salary levels are too low but it would be useful if we could have statistical work carried out on them. Many young people will not choose these courses in college or further education colleges because of the wage structures afterwards. There is a huge responsibility. All of the providers are at the end of their tether as well because of the various inspections and so forth, and then they cannot keep personnel in work because they wish to go elsewhere. The years from birth to three years of age are the most important three years in a person's development. They will learn more in those three years than they will learn for the rest of their lives and yet the level of wages for those workers, and I acknowledge there is a historical background to this, is way below anything in primary teaching or otherwise. Therefore, clear choices will be made where people have signed on for early childhood education due to a love of it and, after four or five years, there is no appreciable improvement in sight in terms of career prospects or wages. My concern is that there is a very bleak prospect for the sector in general and that we will go backwards in terms of attracting the right personnel into the sector with proper prospects.

I ask that the CSO looks again at how it is carrying out the various statistical analyses. From a policy perspective, this country should be seeking to get a proper understanding of what is happening with wages in the child care sector. I am not referring to the higher levels but to those not just in crèches but also in early schools, and the difference between what is happening in the private sector as opposed to the community sector and the State sector. There is an opportunity there to do something more fundamental. More, and more specific, statistics on the child care sector would be very welcome.

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