Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 26 May 1998

Vol. 491 No. 3

Adjournment Debate. - Day Nursery Staff.

Ms Fitzgerald

A serious situation has arisen in nurseries in the Eastern Health Board region which has led to all parents of children attending them receiving a letter annoucing a nursery school strike on 20 May. This strike is threatening 20 day nurseries in the greater Dublin area funded by the Eastern Health Board which provide day care for many children. I will quote from a parent's letter to me:

The nursery teachers have provided a vital service to me and my child and have shown themselves to be extremely dedicated. I could never have gone back to study or work and become independent of the social welfare system without the help of a nursery.

Many parents have echoed these thoughts.

The staff and their unions have had long negotiations with the health board. They also had an independent inquiry and a Labour Court recommendation in October 1997. Can the Minister give a reason for such a long delay and lengthy negotiations? The health board refused to accede to the Labour Court recommendation, hence the threatened strike in the last few weeks. This has led to distress among parents and staff and has meant that a huge amount of attention has been taken from other tasks because so much energy has been spent on this issue.

It appears that at the 11th hour a commitment was given to IMPACT to resolve the situation. I am raising this issue as, although providing high quality care to pre-school children receives a great deal of lip service, the reality is that staff in the sector have been underpaid for many years. The efforts which IMPACT and these workers had to make to get a Labour Court recommendation accepted by the statutory body proves the point and this is not acceptable.

Pay rates for nursery staff start at £8,500 per annum and rise to a maximum of £10,300 after ten years' service. That is for people with a two year diploma. The recent report of the Commission on the Family highlighted the urgent need for high quality, pre-school care, particularly for more disadvantaged children. If this report is to mean anything lessons must be learned from the situation I have highlighted. The Government must give a new commitment that nursery care will be available and affordable and that staff will be properly paid. I look forward to the Minister's reply.

Dr. Moffatt

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I understand that the board is making arrangements to provide the necessary funding to the management committee of the relevant day nurseries in the region to enable them to implement in full Labour Court recommendation No. 15671. I am pleased that on foot of this, IMPACT has advised the board that the industrial action scheduled for Wednesday, 27 May will be deferred and the offer will be put to members with a recommendation for acceptance.

For the information of the House I would like to take the opportunity to explain the background to the situation. Under section 65 of the Health Act, 1953, health boards make financial contributions to a wide variety of organisations. Examples of the type of organisation supported in this way would include bodies such as the Rape Crisis Centre, the Irish Wheelchair Association, the meals on wheels service and a range of other bodies in the general welfare area including organisations staffed by volunteers.

Under this Act health boards make contributions to certain pre-school services which cater for children regarded as being at risk or disadvantaged. This function is in keeping with the boards' overall responsibilities in regard to the promotion of the welfare of children and the provision of family support services under the Child Care Act, 1991. Specifically, the Eastern Health Board as part of its child care services makes a contribution via the section 65 mechanism to day care nurseries in the region.

These nurseries operate autonomously and are independent of the board in their day-to-day operation. The employees of organisations in receipt of section 65 grants from health boards are not employees of the boards and, accordingly, the health boards do not directly determine their rates of pay and conditions. In matters of recruitment, pay rates and conditions of employment, the arrangements agreed between the employer and employee are not subject to control by the local health board or the Department.

Labour Court recommendation No. 15671 refers to the pay of 20 day nursery managers and 100 other staff employed in approximately 100 day care centres in the greater Dublin area and, therefore, relates to the Eastern Health Board area specifically. The recommendation makes provision for the revision of salary for these staff in line with the Department of Education and Science's "Early Start" programme.

The implementation of the award is a matter for the management of the day nurseries as the direct employer in consultation with the health board about funding and service levels. The Eastern Health Board has to consider the implications of claims such as this in the context of its overall funding of child care services within the board. Because of the nature of the service and the demand for such a service in the Dublin area the board decided to protect the existing level of services by increasing the grant aid to cover the increased cost.