Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom mo chuid ama a roinnt leis an Teachta Louise O'Reilly.

Budget 2017 saw the introduction of the foundations of a new model as regards how child care would be funded. The scene is set for a model which potentially could actively attack the astronomical cost of child care throughout the State. Is maith an rud é sin agus cuirim fáilte roimhe. Ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a dhéanamh leis an Aire as ucht an méid sin. Although the scene may be set, it looks like it will turn out to be a low-budget production, certainly for those working in the sector and with parents seeing little difference in their pockets. Perhaps this might change with a significant investment being secured by the Minister in budget 2018. Given the Taoiseach’s talk of tax cuts within an already reduced fiscal space, I have my doubts. He has said it is his No. 1 priority, but I will not be holding my breath. I hope to be proved wrong, but I suspect the early years sector will take a back seat to misguided tax cuts.

It is estimated that the child care sector employs over 25,000 people, a significant and growing workforce. Many other sectors employ fewer numbers than the child care sector, yet child care professionals have struggled to receive the same level of recognition as those in other sectors when it comes to reasonable demands for pay and respect. It is a low-paid and predominantly female sector. The precarious nature of child care work must also be noted in terms of how young workers view it and whether this necessary service, one on which countless parents reply, is seen as a viable career. Many are paid little more than €10 an hour, despite a great deal of unpaid contact time and having trained for many years to gain qualifications.

What would attract people to embark on years of study at significant cost in their journey to become an early years educator? Many who have gone to great lengths to gain the qualifications required to work in the sector are now, in effect, being forced out. Roughly three out of every five workers who left in the past 12 months did so because they did not believe it was a financially sustainable career choice. Child care workers are certainly not motivated by money when they embark on their career. Instead, they are motivated by their wish to care for and nurture children at a young age. We are fortunate to have such a committed workforce. They have, however, been taken for granted by successive Governments, including this one.

The motion addresses the failures of successive Governments in acting on the needs of child care workers, all the while aiming to acknowledge the value of the role they play in early years education. Child care workers have for too long accepted poor working conditions and poor rates of pay. The average hourly rate for a child care assistant is just €10.27. According to SIPTU, many of these workers pay almost €5,000 to gain their professional qualifications, but they can earn as little as €5,700 per year. I anticipate that the Minister and her Department will counter with the argument that the State is not the employer, a point it has made numerous times. While it is technically correct, the State put in place the budget for the affordable child care scheme, the ECCE scheme and others. It did so on the reliance that pay would be at a certain level. The policy document which underpinned the affordable child care scheme based the rates of pay on several sources, including Susan Brocklesby’s report, Breaking Point. What it has missed, however, is that what Susan Brocklesby was describing was a sector that was already unsustainable.

It is worth making that point. The Government has the chequebook for these schemes. Most of the employers are relying to a large extent on these schemes, and the Government does have the ability to influence pay. Of that there is no question.

For many of these workers, relative poverty is something that must be endured, despite having a full-time job that carries great responsibility. The struggle to make ends meet is very real for many. There are workers working 40 hours per week worrying at the end of the month about bills and insurance, which is quite frightening and wrong. These staff are the people who rise early in the morning to go out to do a fair day's work for a less than a fair day's pay. Maybe these are the people the Taoiseach was talking about but somehow I doubt it.

I am saying all this without referring the absurd and undignified circumstances requiring one to sign on for social welfare benefits for the summer months, as covered well by Deputy Funchion. The issue of 38-week contracts can and must be addressed. It is of no shock that 86% of child care service providers said they were concerned that the recruitment and retention of staff threatened their services, for many of the reasons that have been outlined. This motion is part of the overall solution.

I want to return to the issue of the sustainability of the community child care sector, which I raised with the Minister yesterday. These issues are closely linked. I first brought this to the Minister's attention about 12 months ago. Since then it has come to light that, unless something drastic changes, 18 early-years community services in Cork city alone face the threat of closure by September 2018, and that fact remains as true as when I first put it to the Minister. It has severe implications for the affected communities and the workers in the services.

Many of these services are for children between zero and three, and they are crucial for early intervention. They are located in disadvantaged communities that benefit from early intervention.

The Minister has responded on a number of occasions, making reference to a €1 million fund for sustainability. That money was promised 185 days ago, and the second tranche – the main part of the funding – has not been received. In the meantime, services are using reserves and finding all sorts of ways to keep going in the hope that this money will finally arrive soon. They have been strung along by the Department, however, and that is not good enough. They need this funding now. The managers and staff in the services desperately need it.

I understand that at the Department of Children and Youth Affairs roadshow, a departmental official stated community early years services deemed unsustainable by review would not receive the payment. These are not profit-making services. The only way that they can be made sustainable is by cutting wages or services, or by raising fees for parents, in some of the most disadvantaged communities. If these services are unsustainable, it is because of departmental under-funding. We have to face up to this. We are going down a dangerous route and if we do not properly fund community services we will be pursuing a model, of increased reliance on large-scale chains of private child care providers operating on the basis of profit. This is not the model we should be pursuing. We should be moving in the opposite direction. We should be trying to establish more publicly funded providers that can provide salaried jobs - permanent, well-paying jobs - and become quality public services. The services should be public and provided in the manner I describe. We are putting a very valuable part of this sector at great peril.

There ought to be proper recognition of those who work in the early-years sector and they should be remunerated for the work they do. Recognition is long overdue. The Government can begin on this path by treating workers with both the dignity and respect they deserve.

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