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

I thank the Deputies. This sector, like many sectors of the economy, is coming out of an incredibly difficult time following Covid. It is a sector that certainly stepped up during the crisis, which both Deputies recognised, particularly last January when it did not shut but continued to provide early learning and care for the most vulnerable children and the children of essential workers. How we managed to deliver that was through the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, and the sector exemption for childcare that I negotiated with the Department of Finance at the time because we knew, with the pods arrangement, that providers had an obligation to have more staff on site, which required greater funding. We provided that through the EWSS. All the providers I have met have recognised how important that support was up to this point. They also recognise that we have been very clear there will not be a cliff edge in terms of the EWSS and that the support will be tapered out.

We are now looking beyond Covid. Budget 2022 is the opportunity to move us beyond this period to start to implement the recommendations of the expert group. Those recommendations will not come as a surprise to us on the day they are published in November. I have been engaging with the group and I have a sense of the key elements. Everyone in the sector has a sense of those key elements and they will form the basis of my engagement with the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, and my other Government colleagues in the context of budget 2022.

It is essential, as Deputy Murnane O'Connor said, that we provide a career pathway for workers in this sector. We have a workforce plan for staff but it requires them to see that they will get a living wage as they move on through their career. One of the most depressing things for me in this regard was talking to a constituent I know well, a young woman who has just graduated from a third level institution and who left the sector after working in it for three months because the pay was so bad. We must give people like her a future in the sector. The actions the Government is taking will do that.

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