Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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151. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality her views on the need to improve pay and terms and conditions within the childcare sector in order to attract and retain staff; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61496/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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In a very competitive labour market and with low levels of unemployment, recruitment and retention is a challenge for all employers.

It is acknowledged many early learning and childcare services report recruitment and retention challenges. In general, these challenges are not caused by insufficient supply of staff, but by high levels of turnover.

Data from the 2024 Annual Early Years Sector Profile survey shows the national turnover rate for the sector was approximately 25.8% with 28% of the turnover rate due to staff moving from one provider to another. Although I should note that new data on the number of educators/practitioners working in the sector increased by 10% between 2023 and 2024.

Improvement in pay is certainly key to improving recruitment and retention rates, as is the full implementation of Nurturing Skills.

Pay is one of a number of issues impacting the early learning and care and school-age childcare workforce. The level of pay for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners does not reflect the value of their work for children, families, society and the economy.

Although the Government is the primary funder of the sector, it is not the employer and cannot directly set wages or conditions.

The Joint Labour Committee is the formal mechanism established by which employer and employee representatives can negotiate minimum pay rates, which are set down in Employment Regulation Orders.

Outcomes from the Joint Labour Committee process are supported by Government through Core Funding. In this programme year 2025/26 Core Funding has increased by 6% to €350 million with an additional €45 million in ring-fenced Core Funding provided to support early learning and care services in meeting the increased cost of minimum pay rates in the sector.

As recently announced, the Minister of State for Employment, Small Business and Retail Alan Dillon has signed new Employment Regulation Orders for Early Years Educators and School-Age Practitioners.

The Orders commenced on 13th October 2025. They provide for an average of 10% increase to minimum hourly rates of pay. It is estimated that 67% of those working in the sector will see their wages increase as a result of the new minimum pay rates.

The Government remains committed to ‘continue to implement Employment Regulation Orders to attract and retain early years educators’ and to making available a similar sum in 2026 to support a further future round of pay improvements negotiations through the JLC process.

"Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare, 2022-2028" aims to strengthen the ongoing process of professionalisation for those working in the sector. One of the five "pillars" of Nurturing Skills comprises commitments aimed at supporting recruitment, retention and diversity in the workforce, and it includes actions to raise the profile of careers in the sector.

The Plan includes role profiles, a career framework and commitments to support early years educators to up-skill and develop their careers. It also includes commitments to reduce staff turnover, to attract graduates to enter and remain in the sector along with actions to actively promote careers in Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare.

Officials also continue to discuss issues of recruitment and retention with stakeholders through a Sub-Group of the Early Learning and Childcare Stakeholder Forum.

The general consensus of the Group is that pay is the single biggest issue but the Group continues to identify other actions, including:

* A Student Fast-track Process for recognition of studies to work in service out of term,

* The assessment of unfinished qualifications, where people who may have started a relevant qualification but did not get to finish it, can have what they completed assessed for meeting qualification requirements

* An agreement with providers to promote careers in the sector.