Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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31. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if there is a timeline in place for the implementation of the Workplace Relations Commission's agreement of August 2019 between a union (details supplied) and CCCs. [29745/20]

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I want to raise the issue of CCCs. As the Minister is no doubt aware, in August 2019 an agreement between SIPTU and the city and county childcare boards of management for the regrading of city and county childcare managers was reached. It was concluded after extensive negotiations in which it was conceded that the existing pay scale for local authority grade 6 does not reflect the role, responsibilities or competencies of the city and county childcare managers, which dramatically changed since CCCs were established in 2006. Can the Minister outline whether provision was made in budget 2021 for the implementation of the agreement of August 2019?

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy. Officials of my Department are reviewing the Workplace Relations Commission's consideration of the pay rates of the managers of the CCCs. The CCCs comprise one of the key support mechanisms of my Department. I acknowledge the important role they play in providing support and guidance to early learning and care and school-age childcare providers and parents. The CCCs act as my Department's local agents in every county.

I recently met with representatives from Childcare Committees Ireland and obtained a detailed explanation from them regarding the wide range of services the committees provide both to service providers and parents. These include everything from education and further education to advice. Most important, the committees have local knowledge that is incredibly beneficial to my Department so when issues crop up in an area, be they associated with a shortage of places or another matter, they can feed back the relevant information to my Department.

In 2005, the then Minister for Finance sanctioned the rates payable to CCC managers as comparable to the rates applicable in the local authorities for grade 6. Officials from my Department have been engaging with representatives from the CCCs, including both managers' and board of management representatives, and their union representatives, in regard to a proposal for a review of the grading of CCC managers. I do not have a firm timeframe for the completion of this work yet but I am happy to keep the Deputy and any other Deputies updated on the progress of the review and any conclusions from it as we go along.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister said he cannot provide a timeline. I take him at his word that he will continue to engage with us. I thank him for his response. He mentioned that there have been numerous meetings with boards of management and the unions. Has the Minister met them or does he intend to do so in the days, weeks or months ahead? Could he give a commitment to meeting them in the near future?

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I met with representatives from SIPTU once in respect of this matter. I have met with those representatives in the context of wider engagement with the childcare sector on a number of occasions. I met with representatives of ICTU once. This specific issue did not arise in those contexts. I am happy to address it if it does come up. There is a need for increased trade union representation within the professional childcare sector. I want to see more workers represented by a trade union because I believe that will help us achieve the goal of higher wages in the sector. I am happy to engage with SIPTU on this issue if requested to do so.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for agreeing to engage with SIPTU. I appreciate that response. I am conscious that we are talking about 36 managers nationwide, which is a relatively small number. I take this opportunity to acknowledge that many people who work in this sector are among the lowest paid employees in the State. The Minister is probably aware that there is a fierce problem in retaining those staff as there is a high turnover of staff. I take this opportunity to raise with the Minister the urgent need to review pay and conditions for workers in this industry.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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As regards the specific situation of the managers, there is a process in train and I am happy to update the Deputy on that and to engage with that process. On the wider issue of pay across the sector, we discussed this issue extensively during questions raised earlier by a number of Deputies. The funding model work is examining how we can target funding towards goals such as reducing out-of-pocket costs for parents and ensure that childcare professionals are adequately paid, representing the very significant education that has gone into their particular role and the intense nature of the job as well. The workforce planning work is also being undertaken to ensure that we can create those long-term career patterns for them. I have spoken about conditions, including sick pay, and my engagement with the Tánaiste's Department to ensure that childcare professionals are included in any national scheme of sick pay that is currently being examined by the Government.