Maura Hopkins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join other Members in congratulating Senator Buttimer on his engagement and in wishing him well.

Yesterday evening, I attended an open meeting in Kilbride Community Centre, Four Mile House, Roscommon, in respect of issues faced by early years educators. There were over 50 early years educators at the meeting. They are very frustrated and disillusioned and feel very undervalued. The issues they discussed predominantly relate to their wages. The average wage of a child care worker and early years educator is €10.27 per hour. Many of them must sign on during the summer because of difficulties with their contracts. They talk about their huge frustration with the consultation with government agencies on the progression of the child care sector. They have also spoken at length about the burden of administration and the increase in administration over the past number of years. Finally, they speak about the need for investment in facilities.

Obviously, many improvements have taken place in upgrading child care facilities, but the major difficulty is that we must invest in our staff. The staff are highly educated, as were all the people who attended the meeting last night. They are very committed to their work. Parents trust them with their children each day when they drop them off. However, the workers are extremely frustrated. They feel that while regulation, standards and the qualifications required have increased, the wages have not increased to reflect the demanding nature of the work within this sector. Improvements have taken place with regard to seeking to provide affordable child care for parents and the provision of the second preschool year, but we must value the work being done by early years educators. I ask that the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, be invited to address the House on the very serious issues we face in the early years child care sector.