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

The Deputy is absolutely right. Just like him, I too have met constituents and young people, primarily young women, who have done the four years of a level 7 or level 8 course, and who then decided not to go into the sector because they did not see that career pathway for them. As the Deputy noted, the issues are primarily pay and conditions. Childcare professionals are not paid enough and the conditions are not adequate. This is why we have such staff turnover. The Deputy asked about research on this. In 2020, the turnover was 18% across the sector, which is very significant. It has an impact on the young people who have done all the study and then do not feel there is a future for them. There is also an impact on the children because they are continuously meeting new childcare professionals in their service. The bond they create, which is very important for the learning element of early learning and care, is not being established. We are very aware of the problems. Pay and conditions are the key elements. The work we are doing with the workforce development plan and funding of the joint labour committee are how we are responding to that.

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