Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome everyone in the Visitors Gallery for this very important debate. I commend my colleague, Deputy Kathleen Funchion, for bringing forward the motion. It is important to recognise the great work child care providers do in highlighting and fixing the problems facing the sector, in which wage levels are a serious problem. They do not match the qualifications and experience of those providing excellent child care services. Businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to attract and retain graduates as better wages are available in other industries and countries. Many child care professionals are on the minimum wage of €9.25 which is kept too low by the Government, while many child care providers cannot raise wages as the subsides paid under child care schemes are inadequate.

The cost of child care in Ireland prevents many people from taking up work. I had a constituent in my Limerick office this week with this exact problem. She could not access child care to go out to work. Although programmes such as the early childhood care and education scheme are most welcome, this particular scheme only provides for three hours of subsidised education a day, leaving a huge cost to parents who need child care services for the full working day.

We have a low minimum wage. More than 35% of all workers in Ireland are paid €400 or less per week. How can they realistically afford child care on top of other huge costs such as rent and transport? The issue of unpaid administrative work is also of concern for child care professionals. I know providers who after a long day of minding and educating children have to go home and in their own time gather large amounts of information from parents and input it online and onto databases. All of this work goes unnoticed and is unpaid. The extension of the affordable child care scheme will only add to it.

Ireland spends significantly less on early years education, at half of the international benchmark of 1% of GDP. More investment would lead to increased standards in the care and education of our youngest citizens and help to improve conditions for professionals in the sector. Sinn Féin's motion calls on the Government to address the issue of low pay in the sector, remedy the problem of unpaid non-contact work and invest more in the early years education and care sector to improve conditions for workers, children and their parents.

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