Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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120. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his plans to improve the pay and conditions of professionals in the childcare sector. [4894/22]

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I would appreciate it if the Minister would outline his plans to improve the pay and conditions for professionals working in the childcare sector. I would particularly appreciate it if he would give a timeframe for the delivery of those much-needed improvements.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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As I said in response to an earlier question, I am very conscious of the need for a significant improvement in pay and working conditions in the early learning and childcare sector. The level of pay, which averaged €12.60 per hour in 2021, does not in any way reflect the importance of the work or the skill and expertise required. The consequence of low pay, the high turnover of staff, undermines the quality of children's early learning experiences.

My Department has, over a number of years, provided a range of financial supports to providers in the sector to support them to improve pay and conditions. Measures that are still in place include higher rates of capitation payments to services with graduate room leaders in the early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme and to services employing qualified inclusion co-ordinators.

In December 2020, I began a process which examined the possibility of regulating pay and conditions through the use of a joint labour committee. That committee has now been established and started meeting in December of last year. To support the joint labour committee in drawing up an employment regulation order to determine minimum rates of pay, I secured a very significant additional investment in budget 2022, fulfilling a key commitment in the programme for Government. There is €69 million available this year and €207 million available in a full year. I hope to see the joint labour committee bring forward its recommendations in the coming months. This would allow us to implement the new pay scales in September of this year.

I recognise that, this week two years ago, early learning educators, providers and parents were out on the streets protesting conditions in this sector. That protest is being marked tomorrow with a day of recognition and hope. During the Covid pandemic, as a country, we have gained a better appreciation of the great work done by childcare professionals and providers in education for our children and keeping them safe.

There is much more to be done in this area, but I believe that the measures and policies undertaken by the Government over the past 18 months show our commitment to supporting this essential sector during the Covid-19 pandemic, but also in future.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister's commitment to the sector will be judged on two measures, namely, the conditions experienced by those working in it and the costs borne by those people bringing their children to childcare facilities. Neither of those two areas has seen any improvement since this Government took office or since those thousands of people came onto the streets two years ago. We must, therefore, speed this process up, and one of my questions specifically focuses on when the Minister is going to publish and outline the new core funding model. Childcare facilities are businesses, and they are also responsible for the care of our young children. In some cases, those are vulnerable young children. Those facilities cannot just turn on a switch in June and change their entire model. The Minister indicated that he has specific funding available in the context of staff and conditions for this year and next year. If it is possible to outline what the funding is going to be, surely then there must also be some idea of when that is going to be rolled out and what it will mean. When will the Minister release the details, including a breakdown, of all the new aspects of the core funding model to enable those people managing and operating childcare facilities to start planning for this new model?

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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We have outlined our commitments to fund childcare facilities under the EWSS until the end of April. Providers are aware of the level of funding being provided in that context. From May, June, July and August, we have brought forward a contingency Covid-19 bridging fund, for which €37 million has been provided. It will kick in during those months, and then from September the new core funding will apply. There is, therefore, no question of just turning on a switch in this regard. An extensive and consistent level of funding has been provided for the sector.

Turning to the specific question regarding what the new core funding will look like, we are putting the final elements to the formulas that will deliver the details of what each provider will receive. By the end of March, we will provide a ready reckoner which will enable any childcare facility to enter its details and get an understanding of how much money it will be getting in the following September, assuming that the joint labour committee for the sector is fully working. My Department is continuing to meet with the Youth Forum, and is also communicating directly with the sector to update it about what is happening.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I take it from the Minister's response that those childcare providers I referred to will have the full information by March. I welcome that he expects the JLC process to be complete by then and that the Department will have published the breakdown of how this process will work in future.

The next point, then, concerns those people working today in stressful conditions, because childcare facilities are probably one of the last remaining areas where Covid-19 is still having an impact on staff and children. I refer as well to the control mechanisms that must be in place. I am talking, therefore, about people working in stressful conditions and who are also highly qualified, as the Minister acknowledged. These people need certainty. Equally, parents need to know what measures are going to be in place to reduce the substantial childcare costs borne by them day to day and week to week. Will they also have an assurance that by September they can expect to see their fees being reduced?

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Deputy made several points. By the end of March, childcare services will have a strong understanding of the amount they will be receiving under core funding provision. I cannot tell the Deputy when the JLC process will end; it is independent of me. I hope that it will complete and bring forward the employment regulation order in the spring or early summer so we can continue to implement these measures. We are continuing to support childcare providers. I refer to the work my Department is doing to implement the better pay scales from September of this year, as well as to work done across government on the introduction of sick pay, which is something that has been absent for childcare providers for many years. That measure will be provided under work the Tánaiste is doing.

Regarding certainty for parents, we have brought in this new commitment that providers who wish to access core funding will not be able to increase their fees in 2022 over and above what they were in 2021. That is the first step in controlling of fees, and that will allow us to address this issue in future budgets. We have a commitment across government to invest further in the NCS in measures that will significantly reduce fees for parents.