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

I firmly believe that the level of pay for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners should reflect the value of their work for children, families, society and the wider economy. I know everyone across this House is united in the belief that the level of pay needs to improve.

The State is not the employer of childcare staff, and my Department does not set their wage levels or working conditions. However, I am doing all in my power to address the issue of pay. In particular, I began a process in December 2020 to examine the possibility of regulating pay and conditions and the suitability of a joint labour committee for the sector. This process culminated in the establishment of a joint labour committee for early years services, which began meeting in December last year. The outcomes of the committee's work will be supported by the new core funding stream I announced in budget 2022, which will provide an additional €73 million of funding in 2022 and is equivalent to more than €221 million in a full year.

Core funding is expected, among other objectives, to support employment regulation orders that may arise from the joint labour committee to improve workforce recruitment and retention through improvements in pay. Core funding will require providers to commit not to increase fees from the September 2021 rates. This will ensure that parents feel the full affordability benefits of the NCS. This is particularly important because, from September 2022, universal NCS subsidies will extend to children up to the age of 15.

A transition fund is available to providers from May until August, ahead of the introduction of core funding. This fund invests in services, subject to providers' agreement not to increase parents' fees from September 2021 levels. As of this month, just over 4,000 providers have signed up for transition funding and the associated fee control, which accounts for 96% of all eligible services.

See this speech in context