Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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1861.To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 265 of 9 May 2024, to review a response issued to the PQ; if he will address the questions outlined by the person regarding same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32617/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The expansion of funding opportunities for early year’s educators and school-age childcare practitioners to upskill was a key commitment in Nurturing Skills, the Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare, 2022-2028 which I launched in December 2021. Nurturing Skills aims to build on the significant progress already made in raising skill levels across the early learning and care and school-age childcare workforce. Supporting the further professionalisation of the workforce is therefore key to improving outcomes for children and families. It is also essential for raising the profile of careers in the sector.

I launched the Nurturing Skills Learner Fund (NSLF) for the academic year 2024/2025 on a pilot basis for staff working in the early learning and care and school-age childcare sector with a current signed Core Funding contract with my Department.

I hope the NSLF will help drive forward the professional development of early year’s educators. I hope also that the NSLF will help to support the recruitment and retention of early year’s educators, through supporting career pathways and reducing financial costs that many early years educators face.

I have no plans to extend the NSLF to schools, which are under the aegis of my colleague the Minister for Education at this time.