Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have this opportunity to make a few points on childcare. With regard to the systems and structures review I caution against any change to the county childcare committees, which have been serving us very well. More resourcing and supports for these structures is a better way to go rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. I was concerned when the Minister took office that this was a suggestion, and I hope it is one he will suppress because it is a good structure. It is one that can work and, with the proper resources, can work much better.

The next issue I want to raise is that of remuneration. We have many professionals working in the childcare sector but we choose not to acknowledge this. What we have, in effect, are many people with masters degrees, fourth level education and level 9 qualifications working for €12 an hour who, during the summer, are forced to sign on and look for other jobs. This is not commensurate with the contribution they make. Other Members have said that the Covid crisis underpinned our level of dependency on, and the importance and critical nature of, the childcare sector and what it does for us. We also choose at times to acknowledge the educational contribution it makes but then at other times we do not. There clearly is a huge educational and development side to early years care and we do not acknowledge this. For example, a private sector crêche has to pay commercial rates but a school does not. This is something I have mentioned many times before and it is something the Minister will have to petition his colleagues in government around the Cabinet table to address.

During the Covid crisis we have to ensure the employment wage subsidy scheme is available to the end of the year, until such time as we have herd immunity through wholesale vaccination throughout the country. I made this point to the Minister for Finance yesterday. We need this support. While I acknowledge some additional supports that were put in place, in terms of investment when Katherine Zappone was in office, we need substantially more, particularly on the capital side. We will need a rolling capital programme to support this sector if we are going to give it what it deserves. In essence, this is proper recognition for the qualifications and professionalism of those working in the sector with appropriate remuneration. It is simply miserly what they are expected to work for measured against the contribution they are making.

There is also the issue with regard to acknowledging the educational and developmental role for all of our children. The Minister must maintain the county childcare committee structure as the delivery agent. He must also secure from the Minister for Finance a rolling appropriate capital budget that supports the sector throughout the country.

I very much hope the Minister will take these matters on board because, as with some other aspects of our society, the childcare area is hugely overlooked and undersupported. I do not doubt the Minister's personal commitment to remedy these matters but I hope he can embrace the couple of points I am putting forward. I am not looking for a response today and the Minister can drop me a note in writing. I do not want to eat into my colleague's time. I very much hope the Minister will make his mark in highlighting these three or four issues I have put forward today and that we will be able to identify some tangible actions over the coming months.

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