John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for outlining what members of the union are acutely aware of. The union members have been trying to get Childminding Ireland to engage with them through the WRC and that is where the problem has been since the beginning of this industrial action on 7 June 2016. They are aware of what is there to help resolve the dispute but the problem is that a body that receives €360,000 in State funding blatantly ignored it for three weeks. These staff members are effectively locked out of their place of employment in Kilcoole. A body in receipt of substantial State funding failed to engage with the WRC.

I asked two specific questions about whether the Minister who has responsibility, Deputy Zappone, used her influence to exert pressure through her Department on Childminding Ireland to engage with the WRC to end this dispute with the staff members. It also raises broader issues on child minders. There are many low paid workers in that type of work and there is a lack of funding from local authorities and Government which has led to this type of dispute. There are far too many disputes like this one involving exploitation of employees.

There are bodies such as Childminding Ireland which are blatantly disregarding approved bodies that are there to deal with these workplace relation issues. The Minister, as far as I can see, has not used her influence whatsoever to encourage Childminding Ireland to get in there and deal with the issues that are before them. I do not know whether the Minister is able to answer that couple of specific questions.

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