Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I must declare an interest. I welcome my colleagues from SIPTU and the child care sector.I used to work with SIPTU on the child care campaign. Two things about the sector struck me, the first being the amazing people I met - dedicated professionals who go above and beyond the call of duty to provide a wonderful service every day - and, second, the very poor conditions in which they worked. The Minister knows that tens of thousands of child care workers will sign on next summer. Their jobs will finish and they will have to sign on for three months. The average rate of pay in the sector is €10.27 an hour and the turnover rate is a startling 28%. In other words, one in three child care workers is voting with their feet and leaving the sector. I am sure the Minister will agree that it is not possible to build a professional child care sector with that level of attrition and those poor wages. I know she has said some positive things about the role unions can play, but we need her to go further. Given that child care workers are leaving to emigrate or to work in supermarkets where they will get a better rate of pay, will the Minister outline the steps she will take to improve the rates of pay for workers? With the greatest respect, while the 7% increase in capital funding is welcome, it will not do it because it is starting from an under-funded situation. We need the Government to commit to a sectoral employment order for this sector. There is a lot of goodwill for that to happen and unions such as SIPTU are organising to make it happen, but it will not happen without adequate Government funding.

If the Minister could win the funding to make that happen, she would transform child care into the sector it deserves to be and that all of us want it to be. She will certainly have the support of Sinn Féin if she wants to do that. In our budget submission, we allocated a fund of €40 million. That was costed by the Department of Finance to ensure that child care workers would each receive a minimum €1 per hour increase in pay, which would bring them close to a living wage. We know it can be done and, like all budgets, it is about choices.

I apologise that I must leave after my contribution to attend the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution but I would welcome it if the Minister could outline the steps she is willing to take to engage with the unions and in respect of that funding question to ensure the sectoral employment order happens for the child care sector.