Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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253. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if childcare providers that have signed a core funding scheme contract for any one year are under any legal obligation to inform parents three months in advance that they will not be signing up to the following year's core funding contract, or if the obligation to provide three months' notice of withdrawal from the core funding scheme only applies to notifying his Department, and further, that this only applies if they are withdrawing from core funding within a 12-month contract period. [38285/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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To be eligible for Core Funding it is necessary for all Partner Services to agree to the Core Funding Fee Management terms and conditions as laid out in the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement. ().

Some Providers may choose to withdraw from Core Funding or not participate/sign up for Year 3 of the Core Funding scheme, therefore, as private businesses, are free to set their own fees and/or increase fees if they wish to do so.

Once contracted into Core Funding services who wish to withdraw must give 3 months’ notice to the scheme administrator of their intention to withdraw. Parents/guardians must also be notified for this withdrawal. The term of the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement finishes on 31 August for all services.

If a Partner Service introduces a new Service Type, discontinues an existing Service Type, or introduces a new fee for a Service Type, they must provide parents affected by this change with 20 working days of notice ahead of change in service offering.

If a service is not withdrawing mid-programme year, but instead decides not to contract into programme year 3, there is no contractual requirement to give notice.

Core Funding remains open to all eligible providers. To date, over 4,000 providers have either started or submitted their Core Funding application – a figure that is on par with this time last year.

For a list of Partner services, and individual year Core Funding allocations please visit the Together for Better Website ( ).

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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254. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the estimated annual cost of paying the salaries of all early years educators - with a Department-recognised early years qualifications degree at NFQ Level 7 and above - currently working within the sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38286/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I firmly believe the level of pay for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners should reflect the value of their work for children, families, society and the economy.

The State is not the employer and therefore does not set the pay or conditions for employees in either early learning and care (ELC) or school-age childcare (SAC) services.

However, there is now, through the Joint Labour Committee (JLC) process, a formal mechanism established by which employer and employee representatives can negotiate minimum pay rates for ELC and SAC services, which are set down in Employment Regulation Orders (EROs). This is an independent process from the Department and neither I, nor my officials, have any role in the proceedings of the JLC and any associated negotiated minimum pay rates, the cost of which is borne by the employer.

The EROs provide for higher rates for both graduate lead educators and graduate managers. First 5, the ten-year Whole-of-Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families (2019-2028), commits to a graduate-led workforce, with 50% of staff working with children holding an appropriate qualification at NFQ Level 7, or higher.

Among other objectives, Core Funding supports the ability of service providers to meet the additional costs resulting from the EROs for Early Years Services, which came into effect in September 2022, as it provides increases in funding to early learning and childcare service providers to support improvements in staff wages, alongside a commitment to freeze parental fees. A graduate premium is one of the elements of the Core Funding model.

On the basis of 2024 data supplied by Partner Services taking part in the Core Funding scheme, the estimated annual cost of salaries for all staff with a Level 7 or higher relevant qualification is €407 million.

In relation to the estimate above, the following should be noted:

• The cost estimate is based on staff details, including qualification level, recorded in service providers’ submissions for Core Funding, but the Core Funding data has been extrapolated to provide an estimate for all staff working in the sector with a Level 7 qualification and above.
• Cost estimates are based on the most recent data available to the Department which was provided by service providers in May 2024, this data was provided prior to the new EROs for Early Years Services came into force on June 24th.
• Calculations are based on wage-data available at a point in time. Some services may have increased wages more recently, which would reduce the estimated employer cost of meeting the proposal set out in the Deputy's question.
• The cost estimates only relate to staff and managers covered by the current EROs, i.e. the estimates exclude the cost of ancillary staff.
• The figure provided does not take into account the income currently received by those working in the sector who are self-employed and who derive their income from profits rather than wages.