Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. Officials of my Department are reviewing the Workplace Relations Commission's consideration of the pay rates of the managers of the CCCs. The CCCs comprise one of the key support mechanisms of my Department. I acknowledge the important role they play in providing support and guidance to early learning and care and school-age childcare providers and parents. The CCCs act as my Department's local agents in every county.

I recently met with representatives from Childcare Committees Ireland and obtained a detailed explanation from them regarding the wide range of services the committees provide both to service providers and parents. These include everything from education and further education to advice. Most important, the committees have local knowledge that is incredibly beneficial to my Department so when issues crop up in an area, be they associated with a shortage of places or another matter, they can feed back the relevant information to my Department.

In 2005, the then Minister for Finance sanctioned the rates payable to CCC managers as comparable to the rates applicable in the local authorities for grade 6. Officials from my Department have been engaging with representatives from the CCCs, including both managers' and board of management representatives, and their union representatives, in regard to a proposal for a review of the grading of CCC managers. I do not have a firm timeframe for the completion of this work yet but I am happy to keep the Deputy and any other Deputies updated on the progress of the review and any conclusions from it as we go along.

See this speech in context