Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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208. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the steps he is taking to address the shortage of childcare and early education facilities in Kinsale, County Cork. [47569/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The availability of high-quality early learning and childcare is a key Government priority.

Since 2015, significant increases in State investment in early learning and childcare has given rise to a substantial growth in the numbers of children participating in these services. Every year, more than 100,000 children participate on the universal pre-school programme (ECCE) and the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) subsidises up to 80,000 children.

Before the onset of Covid-19, national data indicated that, on the whole, supply of early learning and childcare places was meeting demand, with evidence of undersupply for certain age groups including children under 3, and in certain areas.

Data gathered throughout the Covid-19 pandemic revealed lower demand for early learning and childcare, and reduced occupancy among early learning and childcare services.

My Department has continued to monitor early learning and childcare capacity, with a particular focus on monitoring Covid-19 impacts as public health restrictions have been lifted and on responding to the unmet early learning and childcare needs of families. Data captured earlier this year parallels the pre-Covid-19 context, whereby the supply of early learning and childcare places is meeting demand though there is evidence of undersupply for certain age groups including children under 3, and in certain areas.

The network of 30 CCC across the country, including Cork, are in a position to match children and families to services operating with vacant places. In addition, CCC have been mobilised to engage proactively with services to identify vacant places and to explore possibilities for expansion among services, particularly where there is unmet need.

In addition to this, a range of steps are being taken to address issues of under supply.

Some €70m has been allocated to my Department through the revised National Development Plan (NDP) – with the majority of this funding earmarked for new places.

Under the National Action Plan for Childminding, I have committed to opening up access to the NCS to parents who use childminders following the extension of regulation to childminders, which is expected to happen within the first 2-3 years of the Plan.

My Department, in partnership with the Department of Housing Planning and Local Government, is in the process of updating the 2001 Planning Guidelines for Local Authorities on Early Learning and Childcare Settings.

Finally, the new Core Funding Scheme, introduced in September, provides funding for services aligned to costs of delivery. This means higher levels of funding is available to services that cater for younger children where costs of delivery are higher. There is already emerging evidence of improved capacity in the sector in response to Core Funding, as demonstrated by a 31% and 261% increase in ‘change in circumstances’ applications to Tusla from early learning and care and school-age childcare services respectively who are seeking to expand the scale and scope of their provision.

Parents experiencing difficulty in relation to their early learning and childcare needs should contact their local City/County Childcare Committee (CCC) for assistance. Contact details for CCCs may be found on www.myccc.ie.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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209. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the steps he is taking to improve the recruitment and retention of childcare workers in County Cork. [47570/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I acknowledge that many early learning and childcare services are reporting staffing difficulties in relation to recruitment and retention. In general, staffing pressures in the sector are caused not by insufficient supply of qualified personnel, but by high levels of staff turnover, and recruitment and staff retention difficulties are undoubtedly linked to pay and conditions, with for example the average pay in the sector being €12.60 per hour in 2021. 

As the State does not employ early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners, I cannot set wage levels or determine working conditions for staff in the sector.  However, there has recently been an important and historic development with the setting of new minimum hourly rates for various roles in the Early Years Services sector.

On 15 September 2022, the first ever Employment Regulation Orders for the Early Years Services sector came into effect, setting new minimum hourly rates of pay for various roles in the Early Years Services Sector as follows:

€13.00 for Early Years Educators/ School-Age Childcare practitioners;

€14.00 for Early Years Lead Educators / School-Age Childcare co-ordinators;

€15.50 for Graduate Early Years Lead Educators / School-Age Childcare co-ordinators

€15.70 for Deputy Managers;

€16.50 for Managers; and 

€17.25 for Graduate Managers.

The Orders are being supported by Government’s Core Funding scheme, that I announced as part of Budget 2022, which will see increases in funding to early learning and childcare services to support improvements in staff wages, alongside a commitment to freeze parental fees. The commencement date for the Employment Regulation Orders – 15 September – coincided with the official launch of Core Funding.

It is estimated that 73% of those working in the sector will see their wages rise as a result of the Employment Regulation Orders with the wages of 50% of employees in the sector expected to rise by 10% or more, and the wages of 20% of employees are expected to rise by 20% or more.

I am also committed to addressing other issues which may impact on the recruitment and retention of staff in the sector. In December 2021, I published "Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC), 2022-2028". Nurturing Skills aims to strengthen the ongoing process of professionalisation for those working in early learning and care and school-age childcare. One of its five "pillars" comprises commitments aimed at supporting recruitment, retention and diversity in the workforce, and it includes actions to raise the profile of careers in the sector.