Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is only right that we pay tribute to Deputy Kathleen Funchion and Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire for the very important work coming before this House this evening. As Deputy Anne Rabbitte has already said, we will fully support it. We have been doing much work behind the scenes ourselves on this issue and we know what the problems are. We have a problem and the Minister knows this. The early child education and care spend in this country is 0.5% of GDP. In fact, I would argue that it is 0.4%. I am sure the Minister knows that the EU average is 0.8% to 0.9%. In the Nordic countries, it is 2%. The reality is that there is underinvestment and underspend and that means only one thing. It means low pay, staff turnover at a very high rate and it also means that many of those facilities will find it difficult to stay open.

I attended a public meeting last Monday night in Kilbride in County Roscommon. It was a huge meeting and three points came out of it, which were low wages, lack of consultation - a hugely important point - and lack of direct investment. A survey was done at that meeting. Some 43% of those people working in the sector work for 41 weeks or less, therefore they have to sign on for the summer. Some 38% are paid under €10 an hour, and 21% are on €9.25, the minimum wage. That clearly shows there is a problem and the situation is the same around the country.

The reason I gave the Minister those figures is because it is extremely important to say that we, the parents, hand over our children from the age of three months to 13 years to those people who have one of the most important jobs in society - I know the Minister is very strong on this herself - to look after and nurture those kids and they do a fantastic job. The reality is that these are very professional people, but they are treated like yellow pack workers. I do not like using that phrase, but many people know what that refers to. We must value those people and we must have increased investment. I say one thing in conclusion. We have not been in power for six years but we had an impeccable record with regard to the community child care service. The Minister referred to this, but I know she did not mean it against just Fianna Fáil. I ask the Minister to check the figures. We did much work when we were in government and we are working now. I would not like to be included as a successive Government that did not do much for the sector.

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