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

The Deputy is absolutely right to praise childcare professionals. I was delighted to secure, for the first time, a pay agreement for them in September 2022 where 73% of childcare professionals saw a salary increase. The issue here is that our State has historically not invested in this sector. When I entered office, investment in childcare was €638 million per year. This year, it will be more than €1 billion for the first time. That €1 billion figure was reached five years earlier than previous policy commitments had set out. We need to increase public investment, but we also need to have increased public management of the system. That is what we have done with the fee freeze. For the first time ever, we have a clear mechanism that caps the fees for parents, but also ensures we have solid investment in order that childcare services can reinvest in themselves and pay childcare professionals better. We have gone a significant way in achieving those three goals: lower fees for parents; investment for childcare providers; and better pay for staff.

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