Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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570. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the progress that has been made towards addressing the inadequate level of pay for creche workers as provided for in Budget 2022. [9208/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I firmly believe that the level of pay in the sector should reflect the value of the work that early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners do for children, for families, for society and the economy. The most recent available data indicates the average hourly wage for non-managerial staff in the sector in 2021 was €12.60, with many staff working part-time or on temporary contracts. I am very conscious of the need for significant improvement in both pay and conditions of employment.

As the Deputy is aware, the State is not the employer, and my Department does not set wage levels nor determine working conditions for staff in the sector. However, I am doing all that is in my power to address the issue.

In particular, I began a process in December 2020 to examine the possibility of regulating pay and conditions and the suitability of a Joint Labour Committee for the sector. This process culminated in the establishment of a Joint Labour Committee, which began meeting in December 2021.

Supported by the new Core Funding stream I announced in Budget 2022, there is now a real prospect of improvement in pay rates through the Joint Labour Committee. The scale of allocation under the new Core Funding stream - which is €69m in 2022 and equivalent to more than €207m in a full year - will, among a number of objectives, enable providers to meet the conditions that may be be set in an Employment Regulation Order.

In addition, in December 2021, I published "Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare, 2022-2028", which includes commitments to develop career pathways, promote careers in the sector, and strengthen supports for continuing professional development, which will complement efforts to improve pay and conditions of employment in the sector.