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

The Deputy made several points. By the end of March, childcare services will have a strong understanding of the amount they will be receiving under core funding provision. I cannot tell the Deputy when the JLC process will end; it is independent of me. I hope that it will complete and bring forward the employment regulation order in the spring or early summer so we can continue to implement these measures. We are continuing to support childcare providers. I refer to the work my Department is doing to implement the better pay scales from September of this year, as well as to work done across government on the introduction of sick pay, which is something that has been absent for childcare providers for many years. That measure will be provided under work the Tánaiste is doing.

Regarding certainty for parents, we have brought in this new commitment that providers who wish to access core funding will not be able to increase their fees in 2022 over and above what they were in 2021. That is the first step in controlling of fees, and that will allow us to address this issue in future budgets. We have a commitment across government to invest further in the NCS in measures that will significantly reduce fees for parents.

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