Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 December 2018
5. Deputy Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she has given consideration to re-evaluating the way in which public subsidies are given to private facilities in view of the fact that pay remains low and crèche fees have increased by an average of €4 a week in 2018, and in further view of the fact the Pobal report found that there is no correlation between fees and the wages paid to staff. [52615/18]
View answerFollowing on from the previous question, the Minister might use this as an opportunity to give us some of her views. Following the First 5 strategy, which was of fundamental importance in looking at how our children are raised in the early years, and the recent Pobal report, my question is to indicate that what is happening is not leading to some of the desired outcomes. Some of the subsidies being given seem to be going to the private crèche services - in a sense it is being eaten up in that way - rather than to higher wages for staff. The Minister indicated in her press release and in the First 5 strategy that she is looking at making changes. I am keen to know what the changes might be.
I thank the Deputy. My Department provides public subsidies through both private and community services to facilitate access to early learning and care and school age childcare services throughout the country.
The 117% increase in investment in early learning and care and school age childcare since 2015 has doubled the number of children accessing the subsidies.
The 2017-8 annual early years sector profile survey reported a 2.2% or €3.76 increase to the average cost of early learning and care. This is half of the increase from the previous year and there is evidence to suggest that costs are stabilising.
The survey also provided some evidence of small increases in wages for early learning and care staff, although wages remain unacceptably low, whether staff are employed by private or community services.
I have always been unequivocal in my support for better working conditions for early learning and care staff, while acknowledging the limitations of what my Department can do given that it is not the employer.
I have called on the sector to bring forward a sectoral employment order and I have introduced initiatives to improve working conditions. These include, for example, a 7% increase in the early childhood care and education, ECCE, scheme capitation from September and €55 million to support services with their administrative role over a three-year period.
The model of service provision is divided between three quarters private, for profit, and one quarter community, not-for-profit, providers. The most appropriate means of funding these services, and the overall model that should operate into the future, is obviously a matter for debate and further examination.
With that in mind, I launched "First 5, A Whole of Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families". It articulates an action to develop and introduce a new funding model for early learning and care to support improved quality of provision, while also improving affordability for parents. It will create mechanisms to fund quality, especially supporting employers to offer favourable working conditions to staff. It will examine potential ways for promoting a link between fees, supports and wages, subject to any legal and practical considerations.
I have two suggestions on this review, which I believe the Minister will conduct in the first quarter of next year. The first is that, in that mix, State-provided early childcare crèche facility services could be examined, in addition to community or private services. That State option could set the rates and change the way the entire service works.
Second, and fundamentally, the First 5 strategy was welcome in recognising that there are a variety of provisions for early childcare. During a child's first year, particularly in the home, the parents have a key role. Should it not be left up to the parents to make some of these decisions by transferring the nature of the subsidy from the crèche institution to the parents to give them the flexibility to decide the best approach? The recent 2016 census showed that 83% of parents were satisfied with their arrangements. I believe they are satisfied typically because they make the arrangements. It might be a crèche, a childminder or care at home. Surely it would be better in this review to trust parents and support them rather than the current system, which is funding one particular area and may not be delivering some of the objectives being sought.
I share the Deputy's commitment to trusting parents and I hope that is implicit as a principle underneath all we are doing. He asked about establishing effectively a State model of provision. It is something we investigated significantly in the process of preparing for the First 5 strategy. Ultimately, we made a decision that in terms of the kind of model we have now, we would be able to achieve the objectives the Deputy and I share regarding quality, affordability and sustainability for the professionals if we shift something of our model as distinct from going to a State model, which would flow better in the context of what we are doing. The vision of that kind of model is described in the strategy. My Department will establish a team early in the new year bringing together international as well as national experts to work through how we can develop a better, more effective public funding model for the provision of community not-for-profit and for-profit services for children.
I welcome that and we would probably support it. People in our party have been working closely on research in this regard. Trusting parents is the sensible way to go, but I welcomed the First 5 strategy because for the time it recognised that we need to support a variety of different options. As well as examining State-run services, should the mechanisms be reviewed, not only parental leave but other ways? The best way of trusting parents is to give them supports and then let them decide how to proceed. As the strategy states, a variety of approaches should be taken, not a one-size-fits-all approach. Is the best way of achieving that not to switch the funding to the parent rather than to the institution?
No. I will come back to that in a moment, and I think the Deputy knows my answer to that. As he said, in the context of the First 5 strategy, we are laying out, using a whole-of-Government approach, the various Departments responsible to support parents in the raising of their children. There will be a new parental leave and benefits scheme for 2019 available to both parents; additional unpaid parental leave; development of supports for family friendly working; and improved information and services for all parents on various aspects of child development. We are establishing a specific unit in my Department to support parents in many different ways. All of that is going on, and it is not insignificant.
On the other side, we have developed a model that subsidises the providers because that is the way we can ensure the control of quality, which I have described previously. As the Deputy also knows, most parents choose to put their children into the free preschool. It is not that parents are not accessing or making that choice. They are, but in addition to all of those we are trying to offer a holistic way of supporting parents largely in the way they describe.
