Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I welcome our distinguished guests.

I thank the Minister for his response. The core funding scheme, Together for Better, which, as the Minister stated, started last month, is a significant move in the right direction. I believe it is the first important step in revolutionising the childcare sector and how we treat and value childcare providers.

I am really pleased to hear that update that over 4,000 childcare providers have already signed up, a quarter of which are in Dublin. As a result, these providers will see an increase in funding to early learning and childcare services to support improvements when it comes to staff wages along with that commitment to parents when it comes to freezing of fees.

Almost three quarters of those working in the sector will see their wages rise, with the wages of half of all employees in the sector expected to rise by 10% or more and the wages of 20% of employees expected to raise by 20% or more. That is so important and it is fantastic to see.

However, I would like to raise a concern that has come my way. Some staff feel that with the new wage deal, long service is not being recognised and there is no payscale that is incremental. I wonder if this is something that the Minister could look at.

I welcome the Minister's comments in relation to Dublin childcare providers in the area and having engaged so successfully with them. I might just take this opportunity to remind the Minister of an outstanding invitation to come out to visit Junior Genius in my constituency, which is doing pioneering work when it comes to children's mental health, something in which we really need to invest.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank Deputy Higgins. I had a couple of statistics ready for Deputy Richmond in terms of his constituency. For Deputy Higgins's own interest, in south Dublin, where her constituency is, we have an 87% take up of core funding. It is a little less than the national average but still a very strong take up.

As I was saying to Deputy Funchion earlier, when we introduced core funding we saw it very much as supporting the wages of childcare professionals. Deputy Higgins set out how 73% of childcare professionals, or 25,000 childcare professionals, will see pay increases because of the pay agreement this Government brought in. However, another key extra bonus of core funding is an increase in capacity. We are seeing capacity increase from what it was in 2019. We are seeing it where we really need it, that is, in the baby rooms and in the toddler rooms, the under ones and the under threes, respectively, where we had a real under supply. That is because they are more expensive and core funding is giving services more money to support the higher ratios of staff in those rooms.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I welcome that we are able to increase capacity. The baby rooms and the toddler rooms, as the Minister says, are where the new need is arising and coming on stream.

We have an under supply of childcare in many areas within my constituency. Newcastle is a prime example of that where many parents are not able to get their children into childcare providers and, therefore, cannot go back to work or must make alternative arrangements.

As the Minister said, this funding was also there to help support people who want to make a career in childcare. It is so important that we make careers in childcare attractive because that is a strong workforce that we absolutely need. That is particularly true in Dublin which, I am sure the Minister will appreciate, is an expensive place for those childcare workers to live.

Childcare workers provide an essential service that we could not do without and that deserves recognition. I thank the Minister and the Department for providing that recognition through this core funding model.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I did not answer the Deputy's original question in terms of payscales. Under the employment regulation order, we have a payscale set in terms of qualifications at present rather than longevity of service. The basic rate is €13 per hour. If one is a graduate, if one is a manager or if one is a graduate manager, there are six different payscales.

The money we have for the second year will allow us to make some changes. For example, people must have three years' post-graduate experience to get the graduate uplift. We are looking to reduce this in the second year through the additional investment. A long-term increment is something that can be looked at in the future. I have always said I want to grow funding. It is not something we will be able to do in the first or second year but we have a mechanism now to support childcare workers and the services in which they work. This is something we can look to develop.