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

I move amendment No. 2:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"welcomes:

— the extensive commitments by the Government to address long standing challenges in the early learning and childcare sector;

— the increase to over €1 billion per annum in State funding for the sector this year, reaching the investment target set in 2018, five years ahead of schedule; and

— the significant prioritisation by the Government of measures designed to: — substantially reduce out of pocket costs of early learning and childcare for families;

— increase the pay and improve the conditions of early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners;

— place early learning and childcare providers on a solid, sustainable footing; and

— recognise and bolster the vital public good contributed by the sector; acknowledges and welcomes the major achievements of the new funding model Together for Better, which brings together three major programmes, the National Childcare Scheme (NCS), the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, including the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), and the Core Funding scheme, in particular:

— the roll-out and on-going enhancements to the NCS, which is providing subsidies, both targeted and universal, to record numbers of children this year, with €121 million in additional funding secured in Budget 2023, that is substantially reducing out of pocket costs of early learning and childcare to families by 25 per cent on average;

— the roll-out of the ECCE programme, which enjoys uptake rates in excess of 95 per cent, has removed barriers to accessing pre-school education, with data from Growing Up in Ireland showing that more than 60 per cent of low-income families would not have been able to send their child to pre-school without this programme, as well as work underway to enhance this programme, with an evaluation now underway as a precursor to putting the ECCE programme on a statutory footing;

— the roll-out of the award-winning AIM, that is supporting more than 6,000 children with a disability to access the ECCE programme each year, and the commitment to enhance and expand AIM beyond the ECCE programme; and

— the Core Funding Scheme, with an allocation of €259 million in its first year and €287 million in year 2, that supports: — the historic Employment Regulation Orders for the Early Years' Services Sector, which came into effect in September 2022 and provides minimum hourly rates of pay for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners, increasing the wages of an estimated 73 per cent of those working in the sector, with further increases to the minimum hourly rates of pay currently being considered by the Joint Labour Committee, as well as an updated Employment Regulation Order to remove the three-year experience rule to attract the graduate premium, which is being supported through Core Funding;

— the introduction of a new fee management system which means no increase in fees since September 2021, which, in tandem with developments to the NCS, is delivering enormous benefits to families;

— the introduction of a requirement of services to offer the NCS to all eligible families, which has led to a 15 per cent increase in the number of services offering the NCS, thus substantially widening access to this State support;

— a significant growth in capacity for cohorts and in areas where there is undersupply, allowing greater access for children and their families, with additional funding in year 2 for a further 3 per cent increase in capacity; and

— the introduction of increased funding for all services this year, along with targeted increases for small, sessional services at a cost of €7.2 million; — the latest data from Tusla's register of Early Years Services and register of School-Aged Services that shows: — closures of early learning and childcare services nationally is at a five-year low; and

— the overall number of early learning and care and standalone school-age childcare services is now increasing; and — the wider reform agenda underway in the area of early learning and childcare, through implementation of a range of other policies and programmes, including: — the €70 million Building Blocks Capital Programme, under the National Development Plan 2021-2030, that is designed to meet current and long-term early learning and childcare infrastructure needs;

— the work underway to implement the National Action Plan for Childminding 2021-2028, with a commitment to opening the NCS to childminders at the earliest possible opportunity;

— the work underway to implement other recommendations in Partnership for the Public Good, including a new Tackling Disadvantage fund, the Equal Participation Model, whereby, services will be provided with a proportionate mix of universal and targeted supports to support children and families accessing their services who are experiencing disadvantage; and

— the work underway to implement Nurturing Skills, the Workforce Plan for the Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare Sector 2022-2028, with commitments to develop career pathways, promote careers in the sector and support staff recruitment, complementing recent achievements and future plans to improve pay and conditions of employment in the sector; also notes: — the recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data that shows Ireland's performance in supporting families, and particularly lone parent families, with the cost of early learning and childcare markedly improving, even before the impact of recent enhancements to the NCS or the fee freeze is taken into account, specifically, OECD data that shows Ireland having the highest decrease in early learning and childcare costs to families across the European Union (EU) over the period 2019-2021, and that shows net childcare costs as a share of the household's net income for lone parents on low income in 2021, falling below the EU average for the first time;

— the recent report from the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council. Ireland's Competitiveness Challenge 2023, that welcomes the ongoing work by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in this policy area and notes progress made likely to be 'a contributing factor behind the increase in female participation and our better performance in this area than many EU countries';

— the 2023 Country Report for Ireland from the European Commission, which rated Ireland's progress on the County Specific Recommendation to 'increase access to affordable and quality childcare' as 'substantial'; and

— the recent OECD Country Policy Review of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Ireland concluded that 'Ireland is currently pursuing a strong policy agenda for Early Childhood Education and Care, with the adoption of a long-term whole-of-government strategy for babies, young children and their families covering the period 2019 to 2028' and acknowledged that 'the country has committed itself to improving access, affordability and quality of ECEC provision'; and

while noting that further developments and investment are required, recognises that there are many positive and progressive elements to the current early learning and childcare sector and acknowledges the pathway for improving access, affordability, quality and sustainability are set out in national policies, which Government has committed to implementing in this upcoming Estimates process and beyond.".

I also thank Deputy Funchion for tabling the motion and for providing me with an opportunity to discuss childcare this evening. I thank Sinn Féin because this is an important and serious topic. Over the past few years, I have visited dozens of childcare services throughout the country, including in my constituency in Dublin West, and I know the value and importance of early learning and childcare. I know what it means to parents who rely on and value those services to support them as they work, study and care for others; I know what it means to the childcare professionals, who do their job with such dedication and care; I know what it means to the service providers, who take such pride in the businesses they have built and the education and care they impart; and I also know what it means to children and how good-quality early learning and care to give them the very best start in life.

That is why since coming into office, I have placed more focus on this sector than any previous Minister for children. Last year, in its alternative budget, Sinn Féin committed to spending €270 million and during a cost-of-living crisis, made no explicit provision for additional pay for staff or investment in services. For our part, last year alone, the Government invested €346 million in childcare. That included fee reductions for parents, pay increases for staff and more investment in services. I, therefore, welcome the motion as an opportunity to discuss what has been achieved in early learning and childcare over the last number of years as well as our plans for the future.

I cannot change the fact that for decades, there was disinterest and fundamental underinvestment in childcare in this country before the Government and I came into office but we have placed a focus on childcare like no other. What the sector needs is serious, sustained and substantial investment and reform and that is what we are delivering. We are ending the market-led approach to early learning and childcare. By introducing core funding and bringing services into contract with the State, we are increasing public investment and increasing public management. This will benefit parents, providers and staff.

We invested more than €1 billion to support to the sector through Covid-19 and in the past two years alone, we have increased annual investment by €400 million. Childcare fees have been reduced by an average of 25%. This is saving parents thousands of euro each year. We have ended the practice of deducting hours spent in preschool or school from the entitlement to national childcare scheme hours benefiting up to 5,000 disadvantaged children. I acknowledge that it was Deputy Funchion who drew my attention to that when I entered office. The universal subsidy was extended to all children under 15 using registered early learning and childcare. In the past year alone, the number of families getting national childcare scheme childcare subsidies has almost doubled. In 2021, it was 87,000. Last year, it was 150,000 almost doubling the number of families benefiting from these State subsidies that directly make childcare more affordable. The Government has backed a first ever pay deal for early years educators. Last year, of the 25,000-strong workforce, the vast majority of whom are women, 73% saw a pay rise, many of them for the first time in the sector.

We have seen capacity expand, the number of service closures fall to a five-year low and, this year, the highest number of new services open in the past five years. Therefore, by every metric, things are getting better when it comes to childcare. Do we still have further to go? Absolutely. We have a huge amount more to do. Childcare is still too expensive, and as many Deputies have referenced, it is still too difficult to access in parts of the country. This is why the Government is committing to doing more by increasing investment and expanding capacity.

I know the level of paperwork and administration can be a burden for service providers. When it comes to the care of children, the most vulnerable members of our society, we know there are rules and regulations that have to be followed. Indeed, when it comes to administering in excess of €1 billion of taxpayers' money, there has to be oversight of how it is spent. However, I absolutely accept that we want childcare professionals to spend their time doing what they do best, which is providing early learning and care to children. This is why, at the early years forum two weeks ago, I announced that my Department will lead a full review of sector administration in consultation with the sector. We will examine it from when the parent first registers for the childcare identifier code key, CHICK, all the way through. This will be an entire systems review of the administrative burden. Having done that, we will bring in an action plan setting out what bits we can truncate rapidly and what will take a bit more IT investment to address. I accept that there is an administrative burden and we are committed to working with the sector to addressing it.

Workforce recruitment and retention remains a challenge, and that is why we have established a new group to work specifically on recruitment and retention issues, including looking at apprenticeships and employment permits. All of this will take time but it will strengthen the sector. A number of Deputies have spoken to the issue of capacity. We will bring forward a capital programme for next year to support capacity expansion. We are working with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on planning rules to make sure that when an early years service has to be provided as part of large developments, it actually is provided and is not just left as a shell. We know core funding has encouraged many services to expand their capacity but we also have to examine how, particularly public buildings, could be better used in supporting additional locations for early learning and care.

Throughout the past three years, I have sought to work constructively with providers, unions, parents and indeed with parties on all sides of the House as we look at how to improve childcare in the country. The reform is not straightforward. Sinn Féin will be well aware how challenging the childcare sector can be. Fees are falling here, albeit from a high rate. On the other hand, Northern Ireland has seen increases in childcare fees every year since 2013. According to the 2021 Employers for Childcare survey, almost one third of childcare providers in Northern Ireland described their financial situation as “distressed” or “struggling,” and many said they were at risk of closure that year.

I have set out clearly how I intend to reform the early learning and childcare sector so that it works for everyone, and I have backed that reform up with funding. What I am still not entirely clear on is where all parties across the House stand on the central policies. I would love to hear from colleagues in Sinn Féin, all others parties, and indeed from Independents, some clear answers regarding how they see the central policies being advanced here. Do parties support core funding? Do parties support the fee freeze? Do parties support using core funding to improve pay for staff? Do parties also support using the national childcare scheme, NCS, to cut the cost of childcare for parents? Those are the essential policy changes the Government has made. I believe they are working. The metrics show they are working. If parties are critical of what Government is doing and if they do not see that these policies are working, that is fine. However, we need to see and hear an alternative. This is not for me but for the parents, providers and staff. If people feel the Government's policies are not working, let us hear what the alternative is and how we can do it better. We have secured the biggest ever investment in the State's history in early years services and we are seeing the number of closures coming down, more parents getting more subsidies to cut the costs of childcare, staff getting increases in their take home pay, and more money being targeted to providers in recognition of the sustainability challenges they face. The Government and I are absolutely committed to continuing a programme of investment, reform, and expansion so we can deliver lower costs for parents, ensure sustainability for providers and better wages for the women and men in childcare professions who work so hard, and most importantly, so we can deliver better outcomes for children and young people around the country.

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