Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Mairéad Farrell for raising this issue and offering the opportunity to respond on behalf of the Minister. First of all, tá brón orm a rá nach bhfuil mórán Gaeilge agam agus gur mhaith liom an cheist a fhreagairt as Béarla.

With State funding in early learning and childcare at an all-time high, and set to reach €1.109 billion this year, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and the Government have demonstrated a strong track record in this policy area. This funding is delivering two years of free preschool education to all children through the early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme and supporting record numbers of families to offset the cost of early learning and childcare through the national childcare scheme. The Government acknowledges that many early learning and care childcare services report staffing difficulties in relation to recruitment and retention. A central factor is the level of pay in the sector, which impacts on staff turnover. Recruitment challenges may be compounded in Irish-medium settings, given the need for staff to have Irish language skills as well as meeting sector qualification requirements.

On the issue of pay, it must be stressed that providers of early learning and childcare are private businesses. As the State does not employ staff in these services, the Government does not set wage levels or determine working conditions for staff in the sector. However, there is now, through the independent joint labour committee, JLC, process, a formal mechanism established by which employer and employee representatives can negotiate terms and conditions of employment, including minimum pay rates for different roles in services. The JLC is continuing to meet to discuss possible changes to employment regulation orders first introduced in 2022, and the committee recently published its new draft proposals, indicating a 5% increase in all current minimum rates of pay.

The Government is committed to the continued improvement of pay and conditions for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners through the provision of public funding to providers via the core funding scheme. In relation to recruitment, Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare 2022-2028 aims to strengthen the ongoing process of professionalisation for those working in the sector, to raise the profile of careers in the sector and to support recruitment and retention. The Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, recently established a subgroup of the early learning and childcare stakeholder forum specifically to discuss current staffing pressures and additional measures that may be needed. The subgroup had its first meeting on 13 December and the next meeting is planned for this week. Proposals that may arise from that subgroup will be presented to the Minister for his consideration.

As for supports for the Irish language, the Department of children is currently working on development of a comprehensive plan for Irish language provision in the sector. Core funding, introduced in 2022, offers greater stability and sustainability for providers by substantially increasing the overall investment in the sector, particularly through a supply-side funding approach. It operates alongside the ECCE programme and the national childcare scheme, and provides payment in respect of the number of child places rather than based on child registrations or attendance. This intentional and deliberate differentiation of approach in the new funding model means the core funding element of a service's income is a more stable income source that will not fluctuate year on year. An additional €44 million in core funding for year 3 will support the delivery of a range of enhancements to the scheme to support improved affordability and accessibility for families, improved pay and conditions for the workforce and improved sustainability for providers.

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