Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is nice to see the Minister and I thank him for coming in. He will recall that last year I thought we had a good exchange on the crisis in the childcare sector and the urgent need to address overall funding and particular funding directed to worker wages in that sector. Currently, it costs parents €186 per week per child in childcare, which is a shocking amount. At the same time we have the worst-paid childcare workers in Europe. It equates to the most expensive childcare and the worst-paid workers in Europe.

Right now 55% of early years assistants are paid just €11.91 per hour. We can compare that with Germany, where rates vary between €18 and €30. In the Netherlands, the rate is €26 and, in France, it is €19. We are consistently bottom of the league when it comes to childcare. I commend the Big Start coalition, which comprises my union, SIPTU and a host of other actors, including the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the Association of Childhood Professionals, the National Women's Council of Ireland and others. They have come together to address this matter.

This is my sixth year before a budget standing up to demand action on childcare, particularly for front-line childcare workers. The most recent survey from the Big Start coalition makes one thing clear, and it is something on which we disagreed last year. The Minister told me the sector was not in crisis but it most definitely is. The most extensive survey yet by the Big Start coalition tells us that right now the turnover rate is 40%. We can think about the impact that is having on the quality of childcare. A total of 44% of workers said they will not work in the sector for long and they are actively looking to leave. Worse than that, 80% have said that unless things change in the next year, they will leave as well. Let us make no mistake but that the sector is in crisis. Right now, unfortunately, there are crèches working below the required minimum staffing ratio. There are crèches that are, unfortunately, hiring staff that are not qualified. That is the extent of the crisis happening right now.

The good news, which I acknowledge, is that the Minister has been engaged in setting up what I hope will be a joint labour committee, JLC.That is crucial and the Minister mentioned that to me last year. I want to understand something about this budget. Some six years on from me raising this issue and ten years on from the start of that campaign, is the Government going to deliver for childcare workers and is the Minister going to ensure not only that the JLC is set up for these workers but that adequate funding is in place? The asks are simple and I ask the Minister to confirm that the Government will meet these asks in the upcoming budget. The ask is that we lift all childcare workers out of the range of being paid below a living wage. That is an easy task to accomplish. It will cost €75 million.

At the same time, it is also imperative that the Government cuts the cost of childcare for hard-pressed parents. The ask from SIPTU is for €75 million to cut the cost of childcare by just €35 per week. That is a reasonable request in these circumstances. I was chatting to colleagues in the Council of Europe last week and they told me how childcare operates across the rest of Europe, where the state steps in, there is a national model of childcare and the average cost to parents is as little as €150 to €200 per month. We are paying that amount per week. We urgently need action.

The key point is that I hope the Minister will be able to tell us that he will deliver this year. I know he has put some of the building blocks in place but we need to see a JLC set up and we need to see childcare workers being able to negotiate their own pay and conditions, including sick pay. The Minister should not forget that so many of these workers have to suffer the indignity of signing on every summer. Let us bring that to an end. We have waited too long already. I am hoping that the Minister will give me positive news ahead of this year's budget and the negotiations the Government has had already and that the Government will deliver for childcare workers across this State.