Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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1069. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the supports his Department has in place to support the early years sector when dealing with staffing shortages due to illness as staff need to isolate and follow the public health guidance given that the Department of Education has supports in place for schools; the reason the supports differentiate when it comes to preschool settings; and if his attention has been drawn to the fact that currently they have to apply for force majeure when they have to close due to staff shortages which does not always guarantee payment. [63031/21]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I am aware that many Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC) services continue to report staffing shortages as a result of Covid-19 and difficulties in securing short-term replacement staff, exacerbated by the current high rate of Covid-19 in the community. My Department is actively monitoring the issue and has sought data and evidence-based proposals from sectoral representatives.

Officials in my Department have been collaborating closely with those in the Department of Education to engage with the Further and Higher Education sector, ELC and SAC representative bodies, and the City/County Childcare Committees on a possible agreement to facilitate students undertaking ELC degrees or Level 6 programmes to work temporarily in the sector to relieve Covid-19 related staffing pressures.

On 10 December, my Department announced that on a temporary basis, an arrangement would be put in place for an accelerated process for assessment of equivalence with the level 5 minimum qualification requirement for students currently enrolled on a recognised level 6, 7 or 8 course. Students who are approved through the accelerated assessment process will receive a “Letter of Temporary Permission to Practise” from my Department which will allow them to work for a specified period.

In addition, a facility for advertising temporary posts is available on www.myccc.ie, which commenced 13 December.

The Covid-19 Sub-Group of the Stakeholder Forum will continue to meet throughout January 2022 to discuss current pressures and possible additional measures that may be needed.

While Covid-19 creates additional pressure, longer-term challenges with recruitment and retention of staff remain. The high level of staff turnover in the sector (18% in 2020) primarily reflects the level of pay and conditions of employment.

The State is not the employer and does not determine conditions or rates of pay. However, in December 2020, I began a process to examine the possibility of regulating pay and conditions in the sector and the suitability of a Joint Labour Committee, which will provide an opportunity for unions and employer representatives to work together to determine wages. As a result of this process, an Establishment Order for a sectoral Joint Labour Committee was signed in June 2020, and the Committee has now been formed.

In Budget 2022, I announced the introduction from September 2022 of a new core funding stream for services. Among a number of objectives, core funding will support services to meet the conditions that may be set in an Employment Regulation Order as a result of the Joint Labour Committee.

In addition, on 7 December 2021, I published Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for ELC and SAC 2022-2028. This Plan includes specific actions to strengthen career pathways and support recruitment and retention in the ELC and SAC sector.

With regard to force majeure if a service is unable to operate due to significant staff absences, they can apply to Pobal, who are the scheme administrators, for permission to close through the force majeure application process. Applications will be dealt with on a case by case basis and, provided the service satisfies the criteria for force majeure funding, they will continue to receive full funding under the DCEDIY schemes for ELC and SAC.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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1070. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will examine a situation (details supplied) in relation to the ECCE scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63051/21]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The ECCE programme is available to all children within the eligible age range. The minimum eligibility age of 2 years and 8 months for the ECCE programme was chosen based on national and international best practice.   

From September 2018, all children meeting the minimum age requirement of 2 years and 8 months became eligible for a full two programme years on the ECCE programme.  Parents are not required to send their children to ECCE, or to send them for two years.  In the case of the child referred to in the question, the child would be able to avail of two years of ECCE before meeting the maximum primary school starting age, but the parents can choose to send their child to one year of ECCE and start primary school at an earlier age.

Age limits have been used to determine eligibility to ECCE since the inception of the programme in 2010.