Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Responsibility for the Childcare sector comes under the remit of my colleague the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O'Gorman.

There is a Joint Labour Committee (JLC) in place for the Early Learning and Childcare sector. Joint Labour Committees are independent in their functions.

On the 7th September 2022 the then Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail accepted proposals for Employment Regulation Orders for the Early Years Services Sector. The Orders commenced on 15 September 2022 and provided new minimum hourly rates of pay for various roles in the Early Years Services Sector. The full details of these EROs are publicly available online: S.I. No. 457/2022 - Employment Regulation Order (Early Years’ Service No. 1 Joint Labour Committee) 2022 (irishstatutebook.ie) and S.I. No. 458/2022 - Employment Regulation Order (Early Years’ Service No. 2 Joint Labour Committee) 2022 (irishstatutebook.ie)

If the JLC adopts proposals for a further ERO for the childcare sector, it will submit them to the Labour Court for consideration. The Labour Court will then make a decision on the adoption of the proposals. If the Court decides to adopt the proposals, a copy will be presented to me and, if I consider it appropriate to do so, I will make an ERO giving effect to the proposals.

I have not to date received a proposal from the Labour Court in relation to a new ERO.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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116. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his Department’s plans to implement the statutory sick pay scheme. [17043/24]

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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As I have already set out for the Deputy, the Sick Leave Act which commenced on 1 January 2023 provided an initial statutory entitlement of 3 days which increased to 5 days on 1 January 2024. This will potentially increase to 7 days in 2025 and 10 days in 2026.

Payment by employers to employees for statutory sick leave days is currently set at 70% of an employee’s average gross earnings, up to daily cap of €110. The rate of 70% was chosen to ensure excessive costs were not placed on employers, who in certain sectors may also have to deal with the cost of replacing staff who are out sick at short notice.

However I know that some businesses, particularly SMEs, are facing increased costs and have concerns about the cumulative impacts of increased labour regulation. That is why the Government has introduced a range of measures to support these businesses in adjusting to new measures to improve working conditions, along with more generally improving the cost competitiveness of firms.

Officials in my Department are carefully assessing the impact of statutory sick leave on businesses by sector and company size to inform the decision in respect of the timing and scale of the next phase in the rollout of the scheme, including the number of days covered.