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

I fully agree with the Deputy and am very aware of the pressures that childcare professionals are under, from the raw data we get from work such as the report the Deputy mentioned and from my engagement at a constituency level. I have talked to childcare professionals and heard how they feel that having gone through significant training and education to take up the role, they are not rewarded. They feel they do not have any career prospects. That is why we are trying to bring together the workforce development plan, the expert funding model and the work we are doing on the joint labour committee.

It can never happen fast enough - I fully understand that and know that childcare professionals have been waiting a long time - but in the sphere of what we are doing in this part of my Department, this is an absolute priority. I have no doubt the Deputy will continue to put pressure on me with oral questions, and appropriately so.

See this speech in context