Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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In setting regulatory requirements, the primary consideration must be children’s health, safety and well-being. The adult-to-child ratios for Early Learning and Care (ELC) services are set out in Schedule 6 of the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016. School age childcare (SAC) services' adult-to-child ratios are set out in Regulation 9 of the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) (Registration of School Age Services) Regulations 2018. The ratios are the minimum number of adults required to supervise, care for and work directly with the children in the service.

The minimum required ratios of adults to children in ELC services in Ireland for full day care or part-time provision are: 1:3 for children under 1 year old; 1:5 for children aged between 1 and 2 years old; 1:6 for 2 year olds; and 1:8 for pre-school children aged between 3 and 6. For children in sessional (less than 3.5 hours) pre-school provision who are aged between 2 years 6 months and 6 years old, there is a minimum adult-child ratio of 1:11. This sessional minimum ratio of 1:11 applies to children participating in the Early Childcare Care and Education (ECCE) programme, for which the eligible age group is children between 2 year 8 months and 5 year 6 months. The minimum required ratios of adults to children in SAC is 1:12.

These adult-child ratios are among the more favourable in Europe according to the most recent (2019) edition of the Eurydice / European Commission report on 'Key Data on Early Childhood Education and Care in Europe' .

There are no plans at present to revise the minimum adult-to-child ratio for ELC or SAC services.

I acknowledge that many early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) services report staffing challenges 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.

Providers of ELC and SAC are private businesses. As the State does not employ staff in ELC and SAC services, neither I nor my Department can set wage levels or determine working conditions for staff in the sector.

However, there is now, through the independent Joint Labour Committee (JLC) process, a formal mechanism established by which employer and employee representatives can negotiate terms and conditions of employment including minimum pay rates for different roles in ELC and SAC services.

In line with commitments in First 5, in December 2021, I launched 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 ELC and SAC and to raise the profile of careers in the sector. It includes a career framework and commitments to support early years educators to upskill and develop their careers. It also includes commitments to strengthen continuing professional development for staff working in the sector.

Pillar 4 of Nurturing Skills includes a commitment to examine the development of a range of entry routes into the sector, including apprenticeships or other work-based learning, and access programmes in further education and higher education. While Nurturing Skills commits to examining alternative entry-routes, the development of an apprenticeship for the sector would rely on the formulation of proposals by employers and education institutions, and approval by the National Apprenticeship Office.

Last summer, my Department facilitated an accelerated process for assessment of equivalence for students. This was a temporary measure specifically to help services with short-term staffing shortages over the summer period. This service will be available to students again this year.

I have recently established a sub-group of the Early Learning and Childcare Stakeholder Forum to discuss issues of recruitment and retention with stakeholders in the sector. The first meeting of the sub-group took place in December and the stakeholder group will continue to meet during 2024.