Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 July 2023
996. Deputy Emer Higgins asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his attention has been drawn to naíonra preschools that are having to recruit staff from outside Ireland and as a result are unable to offer their service through Irish; and the steps he will be taking to support the naíonra format; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35955/23]
View answerI acknowledge that many early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) 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. Providers of ELC and SAC are private businesses. As the State does not employ staff in ELC and SAC services, neither I nor my Department can set wage levels or determine working conditions for staff in the sector. However, there is now, through the independent Joint Labour Committee (JLC) process, a formal mechanism established by which employer and employee representatives can negotiate minimum pay rates for different roles in ELC and SAC services.
On 15 September 2022, two Employment Regulation Orders for Early Years Services, negotiated through the JLC, came into effect, providing for minimum hourly rates of pay for various roles in ELC and SAC services.
The Orders are being supported by Core Funding – which has an allocation of €259 million in its first year – to support amongst other things, improvements in staff wages, alongside a commitment to freeze parental fees and support for sustainability of services. As announced in Budget 2023, the Core Funding allocation will increase by €28 million for the second year.
I understand that the JLC for Early Years Services is continuing to meet to discuss possible changes to the EROs.
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 ELC and SAC, 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.
However, in light of the current staffing pressures in ELC and SAC services, my Department has arranged an accelerated process for assessment of equivalence with the NFQ level 5 minimum qualification requirement for students currently enrolled on a recognised level 6, 7 or 8 course. This is a temporary measure specifically to help services with short-term staffing shortages over the summer period. Students who are approved through the accelerated assessment process will receive a “Letter of Temporary Permission to Practise” from my Department.
There is much value in supporting the provision of services in the Irish language to children at an early age. ELC services play an important role here, in particular in promoting Irish as a living language.
My Department is working closely with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and the Department of Education to implement a comprehensive set of actions that were agreed as part of the 5 Year Action Plan for the Irish Language 2018-2022. These actions are designed to affirm the importance that ELC settings have in encouraging the development and revitalisation of the Irish language. The aim of these actions is to build on the existing measures, supports and partnerships in place in the area of Irish-medium ELC and SAC, and to further improve these supports and services.
Inter-Departmental coordination in relation to supports for Irish-medium provision of ELC, both inside and outside the Gaeltacht, takes place through the National Early Years Oversight Group (established as part of the 5-Year Irish Language Action Plan), which is chaired and coordinated by officials in my Department.
In line with the commitments in the 5 Year Action Plan, the development of a Comprehensive Plan to further the development of Irish language provision in the ELC and SAC sector has commenced. To support the development of a Comprehensive Plan it was necessary to survey Irish-medium ELC and SAC settings including childminders to obtain a baseline of the current level of Irish-medium provision in the sector. A survey of providers was therefore undertaken, and the opportunity was also used to survey providers on the supports, services and resources they believe would be most useful to support Irish-medium provision. This report is being finalised and will be published shortly. The report will complement other research and consultation processes planned for later this year, to support the work of an Advisory Group which is being established to oversee the drafting of the Comprehensive Plan. It is intended that the Plan will be published in 2024.
