Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising an issue that is of real concern to me. I acknowledge that there is a need for significant improvement in levels of pay and working conditions for practitioners working in early learning and care and school-age childcare services. The level of pay they receive at the moment does not reflect the value of the work they do for children, for families and for the wider society. In addition, low pay and poor working conditions have an impact on the quality of the childcare provided through their effect on the recruitment and retention of qualified staff. The quotations highlighted by the Senator illustrate this well.

As the Senator knows, the State is not the employer. These services are private businesses and my Department does not pay the wages of staff who work in early learning and care services, and does not determine the working conditions for staff, including sick pay. My Department has, however, over a number of years provided a range of supports to service providers to enable them to improve wages and working conditions in the sector. These supports have included: year-on-year increases in State funding for service providers; higher capitation payments for graduates and inclusion co-ordinators working in the sector; support for school-age childcare, which will make it easier for providers to offer full-time, full-year employment contracts; and a pilot measure to support continuing professional development.

The most recent data on pay and conditions, as of May 2019, indicates that the average hourly pay in early learning and care and school-age childcare is €12.55, which was a 3% increase on the previous year and is higher than the national living wage of €12.30. However, I accept there is wide variation in wages in the sector, and approximately 60% of early learning and care practitioners in 2019 earned less than €12.30 per hour, the living wage.As the Senator said, many of them work part-time and are on temporary contracts. I am still awaiting the 2020 data on wages, which should be available from the annual Pobal early years sector profile. However, I agree with the Senator that the wages in the sector are still too low. In the medium term, the expert group on the new funding model and the steering group of the workforce development plan are both considering future policy tools that will impact on the workforce in early learning and care and school age childcare services. The new funding model is looking at ways in which some services can be funded to meet additional requirements on the quality, affordability and accessibility of services. These could include requirements in relation to wages or working conditions.

In the short term, the programme for Government includes a commitment to the creation of a joint labour committee, which could offer a mechanism through which a pay agreement for the sector could be achieved. Soon after I was appointed, I met with the Senator's former colleagues in SIPTU and we discussed this issue. Officials from my Department are in regular contact with SIPTU representatives on the issue.

The Senator may be aware that on the employer side, Childhood Services Ireland, under the auspices of IBEC, has been formed. I welcome this development as it is good to have a clear voice on the employer side and on the trade union side through SIPTU to enable us to advance matters through the mechanism of a joint labour committee. I am happy to support both sides in any way I can in doing so.

I am aware that many childcare professionals do not benefit from a sick pay scheme at the moment. I had a meeting last week with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, and this was one of the issues we discussed. At that meeting ICTU noted that the Tánaiste and the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation are working on proposals to address the wider lack of sick pay across the economy. This is something that I welcome, and my Department is engaging with the Tánaiste's officials with a view to including childcare professionals within any national scheme.

I am grateful to the Senator for allowing me to update this House on the steps being taken to advance these two important issues for childcare professionals. I will continue to work with the sector to advance them. I am happy to come back to the House to speak to these issues as we move forward.