Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is important the Minister makes that call again, as he has now, for them to get around the table because the last pay increase was 65 cent and it took 14 months to negotiate. Frankly, that does not give me much hope. We know that SIPTU looked for a €1.50 increase. We also know that come January, when the minimum wage increases, there will be 15 cent between the minimum wage of an early years educator and the minimum wage itself. That is not right. The JLC needs to come together as quickly as possible, particularly if it will take it months and months as it has before and on every other occasion to get to what will now be a new ERO.

We have to be mindful that not everyone wants to see the money go to wages all the time. We have to make sure the early years educators come first. They deserve decent pay and if they do not get it, we will continue to have a retention crisis and a lack of people coming into the sector.

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