Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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49. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will consider raising the pay of early years educators by €1.50 per hour, as sought by a union (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43557/24]

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.

I acknowledge that those working in the Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC) sector do not receive the recognition they deserve. The role of the early years educator and school-age childcare practitioner are valuable ones and they play an important part in supporting children's development, learning and care.

State investment in early learning and childcare has increased by 72% since the Programme for Government was published. The First 5 investment target set in 2018 was achieved in 2023 - five years early. In 2025, State investment will be €1.37 billion.

The State is not the employer and therefore does not set the pay or conditions for employees in the sector

However, there is, through the Joint Labour Committee (JLC) process, a formal mechanism established by which employer and employee representatives can negotiate minimum pay rates, which are set down in Employment Regulation Orders (ERO). 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 JLC process has seen two increases in minimum rates of pay for roles in the sector and positively impacting over 70% and 50% of the workforce respectively.

Outcomes from the JLC process are supported by Government through Core Funding.

In Budget 2025, I secured an additional €15m specifically to support employers meet the costs of further increases to the minimum rates of pay. This allocation, which is conditional on ERO being negotiated by the JLC, translates into full year costs of €45 million for programme year 2025/2026.

On the basis of 2024 data supplied by Partner Services taking part in Core Funding , the estimated annual costs to employers of raising all the minimum pay rates specified in the current ERO by €1.50 per hour is approximately €72.1 million.

This figure represents the additional cost to employers of bringing staff, from their current wage or the minimum pay rates set out in the current EROs, whichever is higher, up to the new pay rate set out in the Deputy's question.

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

• The cost estimate is based on staff who had an hourly wage 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.
• Cost estimate 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 24^th.
• The estimated cost are for the additional cost to employers of bringing staff, from their current wage or the minimum pay rates set out in the first EROs, whichever is higher, up to the new pay rate as set out in the question.
• Calculations are based on wage-data available at a point in time. Some services may have increased wages more recently, which would reduce the cost to services of moving from current wage-rates to the propose wage rates in the 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 cost estimates do not attempt to account for the potential cost implications for the wages of staff who are currently earning more than the increased rates above current ERO minimum rates.
• It should be noted that the figure above is the additional cost to employers rather than the additional costs to the State. Core Funding offers a contribution to staff costs. The €331m allocated for Core Funding may already support some employers to pay wage rates above ERO minimum rates.