Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I acknowledge that many early learning and care and school-age childcare services report staffing challenges in relation to recruitment and retention. In general, these staffing pressures in the sector are caused not by insufficient supply of qualified personnel, but by high levels of staff turnover. The most recent published data from the annual early years sector profile survey shows staff turnover for the sector is at 24.5%, however it is estimated that approximately one third of staff leaving services are doing so to move to another service. Notwithstanding this, the data from that survey also shows that the workforce in the sector continues to grow, increasing by 8% over a 12-month period.

Pay is one of a number of issues impacting these staffing levels. As the State is not the employer of staff in the sector, neither I nor my Department can set wage levels or determine working conditions. There is, however, a formal mechanism established in the independent early years services joint labour committee, where employer and employee representatives can negotiate terms and conditions of employment, including minimum pay rates for different roles in the sector. Outcomes from the joint labour committee process are supported by the Government through the core funding scheme. The allocation for the 2024-2025 year of core funding is €331 million. It is an unprecedented level of State intervention.

In budget 2025, an additional €15 million was secured specifically to support employers meet the costs of further increases to the minimum rates of pay. This allocation, which is conditional on updated employment regulation orders being negotiated by the joint labour committee, translates into an additional €45 million for the programme year 2025-2026. That is specifically dedicated to pay in the sector.

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