Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 October 2022
101. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the steps that he is taking to address the staffing crisis in the childcare sector to ensure the continued provision of adequate childcare across the State. [50733/22]
View answerI acknowledge that many early learning and childcare services report staffing difficulties in relation to recruitment and retention.
In general, staffing pressures in the sector are caused not by insufficient supply of qualified personnel, but by high levels of staff turnover. Recruitment and retention difficulties are undoubtedly linked to pay and conditions.
As the State does not employ early years educators or school-age childcare practitioners, I cannot set wage levels or determine working conditions for staff in the sector. However, there has recently been an important and historic development with the setting of new minimum hourly rates for various roles in the sector.
On 15 September, the first ever Employment Regulation Orders for Early Years Services came into effect, setting new minimum hourly rates of pay.
It is estimated that 73% of those working in the sector will see their wages rise as a result.
The Orders are being supported by Core Funding– which has an allocation of €259 million in its first year – to support improvements in staff wages, alongside a commitment to freeze parental fees and sustainability of services.
As announced in Budget 2023, the Core Funding allocation will increase by €28 million for year 2 and already I have signalled that €4 million of that allocation will support the removal of 3-year experience rule for graduate premiums – with the allocation of the remaining €24 million to be informed by the emerging data from Year 1 of operation.
I am also committed to addressing other challenges which may impact on the recruitment and retention of staff in the sector.
In December 2021, I published "Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare, 2022-2028". Nurturing Skills 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.
