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

I did not answer the Deputy's original question in terms of payscales. Under the employment regulation order, we have a payscale set in terms of qualifications at present rather than longevity of service. The basic rate is €13 per hour. If one is a graduate, if one is a manager or if one is a graduate manager, there are six different payscales.

The money we have for the second year will allow us to make some changes. For example, people must have three years' post-graduate experience to get the graduate uplift. We are looking to reduce this in the second year through the additional investment. A long-term increment is something that can be looked at in the future. I have always said I want to grow funding. It is not something we will be able to do in the first or second year but we have a mechanism now to support childcare workers and the services in which they work. This is something we can look to develop.

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