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

Core funding is designed to support a range of objectives, including the drawing up of an employment regulation order, ERO, to determine minimum rates of pay for workers as well as supporting career pathways in graduate employment.

Of the €221 million core funding budget, approximately two thirds is intended to contribute to improved pay rates across different categories of staff. This portion of the budget cannot be made available without assurances that the funding will be channelled towards achieving this intended objective. Accordingly, a precondition of the funding agreement is that core funding is contingent on EROs being in effect to cover all roles across the sector, as defined in the early years services joint labour committee, JLC, establishment order. In the event that there is no ERO, or an ERO that only covers one role in the sector, core funding cannot proceed.

If there are no EROs, the entire €150 million allocated for improved pay and conditions under core funding risks being forfeited. In the event of a single ERO that covers just one role, a substantial portion of the €138 million allocated for improved pay and conditions under core funding risks being forfeited. The value of funding forfeited will depend on the ERO agreed. In the event that there are EROs without graduate premium rates, the additional €10 million allocated for graduate premiums under core funding risks being forfeited and alternative arrangements for funding for graduates will be put in place. A return to the previous higher capitation payment is not envisaged. A failure to agree graduate premium rates will significantly undermine the development of further policy initiatives to support the employment of staff with higher levels of qualification, given the limited assurances that State funding will be channelled towards achieving this intended objective.

I am fully supportive of improved pay and conditions for this valued workforce and achieved significant investment from the Government in budget 2022 for this purpose. I urge the JLC to continue its negotiations to agree EROs for all grades in the sector, including minimum rates for graduate lead educators and graduate managers.

See this speech in context