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

I look forward to examining that proposal because it is not the motion before us today. It is really valuable to have that figure. Deputies from Sinn Féin have today highlighted both the problems of pay and fees. In its pre-budget submission, Sinn Féin kind of conflated those and suggested that one figure can contribute to addressing both of those problems. Those are two separate problems that require two separate sets of investment, however. We are bringing forward core funding to address the issue of pay for childcare professionals. We have committed to addressing the issue of fees in next year's budget through enhanced investment through the national childcare scheme, NCS.

Reforming early learning and childcare needs real substantive and sustained change to deliver reduced fees, improved pay and conditions and to ensure sustainability. It is clear to me that relying on the market to deliver early learning and childcare in the absence of strong State investment and public management will not work. That is why we have set out a new model of how funding will work, which clearly states that early learning and childcare is a public good. That requires more investment by the State and a closer working partnership with providers. That is the central ambition of core funding. Core funding will provide substantial additional funding to the sector related to the cost of the delivery. That will support improved quality through better pay and conditions for the workforce by supporting the agreement of an employment regulation order, ERO, through the joint labour committee, JLC, the employment of graduate staff and improved sustainability and stability for services.

A new fee management scheme attached to core funding will also maintain fee levels this September at the same level they were in September 2021. This is just the beginning. We intend to and will go further. That is why all three parties in the Government are committed to further investment through the national childcare scheme in budget 2023 to substantially bring down the cost of early learning and childcare for parents. The new funding model will offer supply-side funding to providers in addition to the NCS, the early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme and the income that childcare providers receive from parental fees. This a step change in how we resource this sector.

We have shown our readiness and willingness to invest. The equivalent of €221 million in full-year funding has already been secured. With significantly increased investment of such substantial amounts of public money, there are, of course, additional requirements on providers The funding is intended and designed to address the most challenging issues that face the sector, that is, staff pay and conditions and affordability, and to offer providers who want to provide a service for the public good to come into partnership to do so. The investment is to enable improvements in pay and conditions and ensure that fees to parents do not increase, and adequately compensate providers to ensure that point.

Core funding will largely be distributed based on the amount of provision offered, which is the primary driver of costs. This is a fair, balanced and reasonable way of distributing funding. The overwhelming majority of services will benefit substantially from core funding. Most services, regardless of size or model of operation, will see significant increases in public income.

A very small number of services, 1% in total, will have the same level of public income as before. These are the services that, proportionately, have benefited the most from the existing public funding. To be clear, however, funding for these services will continue to be paid at the same rate. No service will be left out of pocket and the vast majority will see significant increases in funding.

The Opposition's motion refers to the precarious nature of the joint labour committee, but I do not accept that framing. The JLC was set up under statute and is intended to negotiate an employment regulation order. If an ERO is agreed, it will have a legislative underpinning. The motion seeks a guarantee in respect of a commitment to increase wages and improve conditions of staff, regardless of the outcome of the joint labour committee. That request misses the essential feature of the JLC, namely, that both the employer and employee representatives jointly negotiate pay and conditions. I have made available funding of €138 million of the full-year costs of core funding, 62% of which is for staff funding. That is to ensure staff who educate and care for children will be paid a sum that reflects the work they do. It is deliberate and intentional that this funding will be contingent on the JLC agreeing that ERO. Importantly, without an ERO, there is no guarantee the additional State investment will go towards achieving that key goal of delivering additional pay for childcare professionals. Without the ERO, that will not be delivered, and I have not heard any better mechanism for delivering increased pay for staff. That is why the ERO process is being engaged with by the SIPTU Big Start campaign and others who represent childcare professionals.

In line with the recommendation in Partnership for the Public Good, core funding will be made available to providers to support the drawing-up of the ERO. Given part of the objective of core funding is to support an ERO, if an ERO is not agreed, that element of core funding announced in budget 2022 cannot proceed. I understand the parties involved in the JLC are working intensively to agree an ERO. Officials in my Department have been supporting them and I am very hopeful of the outcome of that process. I was recently informed by the chairperson of the committee that she has made a referral to the Labour Court under section 42B(4) of the Industrial Relations Act 1946, as amended, and it is understood a hearing has been scheduled for 7 April. This constitutes a key moment for the workforce and has the potential to improve substantially rates of pay in the sector as a whole. It is major progress and something the Government, and I as Minister, have supported.

I reiterate the sector needs significant and sustained reform, and the Government is working to reshape early learning and childcare, changing the relationship between the State and the provider to one of partnership that will work together to deliver the public good. We delivered additional funding in this year's budget of €221 million in a full year but we have also committed to doing more and delivering more funding to increase affordability as well. Like every Deputy, I want Ireland to have a world-class early learning and childcare sector. We have a roadmap to get there and we have put the funding on the table to achieve it. Working with the sector, we can and will achieve this.

See this speech in context