Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 October 2021
101. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his plans for a State-funded national childcare system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48656/21]
View answerAt last night's Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting, speaker after speaker stood up and spoke about the need for a universal childcare system and for us to start the journey in doing that. I ask the Minister to outline to the House the steps he intends to take to put that in place both in the forthcoming budget and in the lifetime of the Government, as it will make such a significant impact in the lives of children.
The Deputy will understand I will not give out budget secrets today. I know he and I have engaged extensively on the matter, and as I said to other Deputies earlier, my Department is currently investing €638 million in early learning and childcare, amounting to approximately 60% of the total income of the sector. Most of the rest of the income is from parental fees.
The investment of €638 million in 2020 is distinct from the funding that early learning and childcare employers can access under the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS. As the Deputy knows, businesses in the sector are exempt from having to prove a 30% reduction in turnover as I was able to negotiate that exemption for them. For each month during Covid-19, that exemption has represented an additional €34 million investment in the sector.
The programme for Government commits us to the First 5 strategy and commits us to the target of €1 billion being invested per year by 2028 and I have noted that for the additional public investment to work, we must have greater public management. That is why we have had the expert group researching how to link more money being invested with better outcomes for parents, children, providers and childcare professionals as well. The expert group has been researching the matter and it will bring its report to my Department in November this year and I am looking forward to receiving it. I have been engaging with the group since coming to office and I have a sense of where its recommendations will end up. The group has certainly inspired my budget bid to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform this year.
I do not wish to speculate on the exact construction of the final recommendation from the expert group but I know it comprises national and international experts and they have very much looked around the rest of Europe and further in considering what models work to ensure public investment is combined with public management to get those really important outcomes for children.
I did not expect the Minister to give away budget secrets but it is good to hear the trajectory he is on. I suppose the proof of the pudding will be in budgets in years to come because he is right in that significant investment is being made. Nevertheless, significantly more investment must be made. The EWSS in the childcare sector has given us a taste of what a significant State investment in the staffing costs of childcare providers could do. I welcome its extension and I would like to see it extended further until other arrangements are put in place.
The Minister is also correct that we must also have proper management and governance. The community childcare model is the place to start in this regard. The Minister has, very kindly, met several different childcare providers from Ballymun and Finglas, comprising a range of different models. It was very clear that negotiating that patchwork quilt of different schemes for different sectors is a nightmare. We must move to a model that is far simpler and more targeted at those areas that need such resources.
I thank the Deputy for arranging that meeting with some of the providers in his constituency. We had good online engagement and I met them face to face on Tuesday outside Leinster House when they formed part of the protest. We had another really useful conversation. That is really useful for me in understanding the real-life implications of the policy decisions we make in the Department. I really value those engagements. The Deputy is correct that the trajectory is really important and the budget this year will demonstrate that trajectory. It is just as important to look at what we have done during Covid-19 as a demonstration, I hope, of how we can build good faith with the sector with measures like the EWSS supports that the Deputy mentioned. There are also measures relating to that idea of public management, including setting up the joint labour committee, JLC, which has been sought for years. We have started that process and we are also well advanced in work on the workforce development plan in order that new people coming to the sector will be able to see a clear career pathway.
