Early Childhood Care and Education: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members]

The following motion was moved by Deputy Kathleen Funchion on Wednesday, 5 July 2017:

That Dáil Éireann:

notes that:

— there are approximately 4,300 services providing early childhood education and care, with an estimated 22,000 staff working in the sector;

— thousands of early years staff will be forced to sign on for social welfare in the coming weeks for the duration of the summer, due to 38 week work contracts and also as a result of reduced hours of work;

— many parents choose to remove their children from centres over the summer months as a result of the high cost of full day care, which results in services having to reduce working hours;

— wages within the early years sector often do not reflect staff qualifications and experience;

— the average wage in the profession is significantly below the living wage and the competence requirements in early childhood education and care, CoRe, report 2011 recommends a graduate-led early years workforce, yet this recommendation cannot be fulfilled if graduates are not retained to work in the sector;

— national and international evidence suggests high-quality early childhood education and care is beneficial for young children at the foundation stage of their development and that the provision of high-quality early education and care is dependent on quality interactions between early years staff and the children with whom they engage; therefore, the immediate improvement of working conditions and salaries of those working in the sector is essential for quality improvement;

— community and private services are currently experiencing recruitment and retention difficulties due to insufficient being funding available to pay staff a wage commensurate with their role and ever increasing responsibilities, which results in a high staff turnover rate and burnout of workers;

— this crisis is creating wider sustainability issues for the sector, resulting in risk of closure of smaller crèches, particularly community crèches nationwide, which will inevitably reduce access to child care options for parents, while putting staff under increased work pressures; and

— Ireland spends significantly less on early years education, at 0.5% of gross domestic product, versus the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, average of 0.7% and even less than the international benchmark of 1%; and

calls on the Government to:

— recognise the early years sector’s valuable contribution to Irish society in educating and caring for the youngest of Irish citizens and to treat the early years education sector on a par with other levels of education;

— ensure the needs of the early years workforce are central to all policy development and investment in order to achieve high-quality early years education and care services;

— carry out, as a matter of urgency, an independent early years service cost and sustainability review, encompassing the identification and assessment of stress factors impacting on the early childhood services, and distinguishing between the cost of providing a 0-3 years of age service, a pre-school service and an after-school service, in order to provide an accurate calculation of the finances needed for the provision of high-quality accessible education and care in both rural and urban areas;

— increase State funding to average OECD levels to ensure sustainable high-quality provision, professional pay scales and paid non-contact time;

— commission the development of a nationally agreed pay scale for the early years workforce that recognises qualifications, experience and length of service, using the living wage as a starting point, to ensure higher capitation rates are passed on to staff through an agreed salary scale that reflects qualifications and experience;

— immediately address the issue of the extra administrative requirement which will be added to providers’ already extensive workload, due to the extension of the affordable childcare scheme, and ensure both service providers and staff are remunerated for this additional work in adequate time for the implementation of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs’ extension of current schemes;

— build paid non-contact time and continuing professional development into the level of capitation provided in order that early years staff can plan, document and deliver a high-quality programme; and

— prioritise work on the early years strategy to avoid further fragmentation of the sector and consult widely with the sector in order to sufficiently inform this work.

Deputy Louise O'Reilly

Deputies Funchion and Ó Laoghaire have outlined the working conditions of the child care workers. It is no wonder that those workers feel undervalued. We have certainly established that they are overworked. I thank and commend my colleague Deputy Funchion for the work she has done in this area because it needs to be highlighted.

Early Childhood Ireland research has shown that 36% of service providers who have tried to recruit staff in the past 12 months were unable to find anyone suitable. The same research showed that 46% of those who did manage to recruit had to settle for someone with lower qualifications than they wanted. That is a problem. I am a parent and my daughter was in a crèche. I am a grandparent and my grandson is in a crèche. I want to know and believe that the people who are looking after my daughter and grandson are well paid, well looked after and well regarded. It is very worrying when we see the statistics and that the work of these people is not valued. It should be valued because they are looking after our most precious resource, it could be argued. The high turnover of staff and the lack of staff in certain instances are not good for children. They are not good for their intellectual or emotional development. The OECD's Education at a Glance report highlighted that poor quality early-years education and care harms a child's development. The Minister knows this very well. We should be nurturing our children. Parents do not want their children to be looked after in an environment where the workers providing the care and who are nurturing are not valued or respected and in which they are not paid appropriately. Of course, parents want affordable child care. That is vital. It is vital in my constituency, Dublin Fingal, which has the youngest population in the State. Of course we want affordable child care but not at the expense of the workers who are at the coalface providing it.

While the Government is demanding services, more highly qualified staff and the raising of standards, which are all welcome, it is hypocritical if the supports needed are not provided to the people who are delivering the care. It is the State's problem. It is the State's role to step in and regulate the sector. It is the State's role to ensure children can gain access to good quality child care that is affordable and delivered in a place where the workers are respected and treated decently, and where they have job security. The latter is very important, particularly because it is a female-dominated profession.

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs (Deputy Katherine Zappone)

I welcome the professionals and advocates. The first big step to changing Irish child care forever is now just eight weeks away. Up to 70,000 children will benefit from extra subsidies and supports. It will be an important moment. This is the first big practical step to changing one of the most expensive child care systems in the world into one of the best. By addressing the affordability issue, we will ease the burden on many parents for whom child care costs have become a second rent or mortgage. The changes are radical and represent real change. I am particularly happy that we are delivering the highest level of supports to those families who need it most — with supports of up to €7,500 available per child.

Deputies will be aware that there are two elements to the payments we are introducing. There are universal payments available for all children aged between six and 36 months and then there are targeted supports. It is these targeted supports that will open up jobs, training and education for parents who want to lift their families out of poverty. Overall, total spending on child care programmes this year is €466 million, which represents a 79% increase on figures from 2015. I mention this solely to highlight the progress that has been achieved, in particular over the past year. From the outset, I have been clear that despite the increases in funding we are only at the beginning. If we are to achieve a truly affordable accessible child care system, there is more to be done. As Minister, I am working to correct policies by successive Governments which have left Ireland bottom of the OECD league in terms of child care investment.

Affordability is one step. Of course we must also continue to focus on quality. In order to ensure quality child care, we must ensure that it is a sector where dedication, qualifications and skills are recognised and rewarded.

Addressing the concerns of those who provide child care in our communities requires new approaches. It is time to think outside of the box. As Minister, I established the National Early Years Forum and in that context I have met with members of the Association of Childhood Professionals, private early education providers, the community forum and Childminding Ireland on a number of occasions. I have visited child care centres throughout the country. I have addressed Early Childhood Ireland twice. I have met trade union representatives both at Early Childhood events and informally through my officials. Each discussion, meeting and encounter reinforced what I already knew as a long-standing campaigner in the areas of child care, education and community work. It is clear that the significant progress we have made in opening up training and qualification opportunities for the child care sector is not being matched with better pay and conditions.

In terms of pay and conditions, new approaches need to be explored. The Government is not the employer in the child care sector. However, to me, it is unacceptable that as a Government we would be oblivious to the needs of people who provide such a vital service to children, parents and families. I have raised this with the Early Years Forum and with my Cabinet colleagues consistently, as recently as this morning at our meeting. One approach would be a sectoral employment order through either the Workplace Relations Commission or the Labour Court. Under such an order, organisations representing employers and employees come together to agree a way forward. This process through the State’s industrial relations mechanism would be supported by submissions from other relevant stakeholders. As the main funder of child care, my Department together with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform would have a significant interest. I assure the House that my Department would make a submission to such a process and make its expertise available to help achieve an outcome agreeable to all.

Much of the €466 million being spent on child care this year is targeted at reducing the cost of child care to parents. However, some measures were designed to target the workforce itself. For example, the higher capitation payment in ECCE was designed to incentivise the employment of graduates. The payment of €75 per child per week is €10.50 higher than the standard rate and was designed to enable services to attract and retain graduates in their service. In 2011, only 8% of services were eligible for this higher payment but this grew to 38% in 2016.

Delivering a quality child care system with skilled and qualified carers looking after our children and keeping them safe creates an administrative burden. We cannot allow public money to go to substandard or unsafe services. I am sure we all agree on that. I have also been listening to the concerns of child care providers about red tape and those concerns are genuine. Clearly there is a balance to be struck between ensuring quality and safety while at the same time keeping administration to a manageable limit. As Minister, I have taken a number of initiatives to recognise this workload, which is referred to as non-contact hours. In the past few weeks, I announced an extra €3.5 million in payments to providers who sign up for the extended schemes, starting in September, to recognise this work. This is on top of €14. 5 million in non-contact hour payments announced in the last budget. This funding of €18 million is significant. As the House will be aware, the changes coming in September are leading the way to the new affordable child care scheme. This will amalgamate existing child care schemes into one. The new scheme will cut the administrative burden and I look forward to making further announcements about that in the coming months.

There have been changes in community child care recently. New regulations have caused difficulty as a number of community providers moved from a dependency on community employment scheme participants to qualified practitioners. A total of €1 million in payments has commenced to help services through this transition. I want to acknowledge that Deputies from all sides of the House approached me on this issue and I assure them that action has been taken. Obviously, with public money we have a duty to ensure that it is spent effectively and has the desired impact. My Department is working with those providers who have yet to provide the necessary information in order that they have their money as soon as possible.

Delivery of a national early years strategy is a priority. When it is published later in the year, the strategy will set out policies and priorities across a wide range of areas for children under the age of six. I can confirm now that these areas will include, but will not be limited to, childhood care and education. It is important to note that the strategy will be the result of a number of consultations with the sector, including an open policy debate at the end of last year.

Child care in this country is emerging from a period of huge underinvestment by successive Governments. Getting us back on track was never going to be easy and neither was it going to be solved with a single budget. I mentioned at the outset that in terms of child care we are about to take the first big step. Families will be benefitting within weeks and that is huge. However, more is needed. I have never made a secret of that. I welcome the debate today. The contributions of the Deputies and their support will help strengthen my hand at the negotiating table ahead of the budget. Our goals in child care are ambitious. They have to be. We owe it to the providers, the parents and, above all, our children to continue working towards the goal of genuine, affordable, accessible and quality child care delivered by valued professionals. After taking the first big step, let us make sure there is no going back. I do not take child care professionals for granted.

Deputy Anne Rabbitte

I thank Deputy Funchion for tabling this motion this evening. I know it is something that both she and Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire have been very passionate about at committee in the months since I was elected. I heard all the Minister had to say and I welcome her response. She is quite right. There has been a gap from Government for a number of years, in particular in the previous five years. I know she is raising it with her colleagues in government. She has brought an emphasis to it and I understand her passion for and understanding of the sector. However, for the rest of us who are not at the Cabinet table and are not part of Government, we do not wish to be personal towards the Minister, Deputy Zappone, but we have to be harsh on the Government's lack of involvement for the last number of years. We have to be harsh in regard to how the Government has not listened to or invested in the sector. This is possibly the first time we have an affordable child care scheme. Unfortunately, it is not up and running for September as would have been the wish of the Minister at the time of the last budget.

We support the motion wholeheartedly. I read the motion last week when it was published and there was nothing in it that I could find fault with. It is something my party, Fianna Fáil, and I have been canvassing for, talking about and lobbying for the last number of months and years. It is the sector that looks after our most vulnerable and protects our most precious. I worked in the sector for three years. I was a manager of one of those community crèches. Those are the crèches I feel passionately about. I believe that is the part of the sector that is sellotaped together at the moment. I fear for the future of the community crèches sector, as I do for all child care providers at the moment. It is a sector receiving CPR. It is haemorrhaging the retention and development of child care professionals. Some of them do not see a future, and I will tell the House why. If they are out sick, they only get paid for the three days because that just happens to be the way the employment law stands if someone is out sick more than three days. Therefore, one cannot get sick if one is a child care worker.

There is a fear of not being able to borrow, get a car loan or go for a mortgage. Why is that? The simple reason is that they are worried whether they will have a job next September, whether the funding will come through and whether they will have the numbers in the rooms. Those are the questions that the manager of the crèche is worried about. She is worried about the sustainability of her own business, but the staff working in the sector do not know if they have a future from 1 September one year to 1 September the following year. If they are working on temporary contracts from year to year, they do not know whether or not they have a future in the sector. Some of my colleagues are going to talk about what happens when we hit the summer. That is one of the biggest issues. The eight weeks are up now. The centres have all had their graduations. Much of the sector has finished up. Where are the staff now? We all know.

Unfortunately, the lack of legislation, the lack of ICT and the breaking of promises have been the cornerstone of the current Administration and the previous Government. They have put the child care sector on the back foot and have left it feeling vulnerable, under-appreciated and under-resourced. When the previous Government hit the rock with the child care sector, it gave it community employment workers. That is what got it out of the pinch and allowed it to afford to keep the community sector going. It gave the sector community employment workers. It allowed it to come under the ratios and it gave community employment workers the opportunity to go into the community crèches to achieve sustainability. That is my opinion. When one does the sums, it is in there as well.

Fianna Fáil has been very consistent in its support for the child care sector and has been vocally critical of the Government's continuing failure to invest in the sector. Under this Government, policy in this area has been haphazard and poorly thought out, as shown in the debacle over the single affordable childcare scheme and failings relating to ICT. The Sinn Féin motion seeks an independent early years service cost and sustainability review of the child care sector. Fianna Fáil is entirely supportive of this. Indeed, this work is supposedly happening with the Department. From my questions to the Minister yesterday, I know that we have yet to send it out to tender and there is a timeline for that. The child care sector is still a rapidly changing and dynamic sector and it is crucial that we gain a deeper insight into the sector in order to build better policy. For example, nobody is fully certain regarding the differing costs of child care from infants to toddlers to waddlers to preschoolers. To build on the non-contact and continuing professional development capitation grants paid to providers, we will provide a better professional development fund to aid child care workers in their upskilling. Deputy Ó Laoghaire said earlier that anybody who works in this sector did not join it because they love the money. The money would be one reason not to join the sector. They join the sector because they love children and are passionate about what they are doing. They would like it if they could go on training courses and gain more knowledge to bring it back to the centres, be it through art and crafts or updating their first aid knowledge. Occupational first aid for people within the sector is so expensive but they all want and need to do it. These are the kind of courses they want and they need for funding for it.

Deputy Michael Moynihan

I will say a few brief words about child care and how we are progressing. In respect of the child care facilities in the not-for-profit community and voluntary sectors that were built over the past number of years, massive work with communities and voluntary organisations and boards is ongoing. Even in the private child care sector, the dedication to duty and commitment on the part of staff is second to none. I have had many interactions with this sector from the time they were being built up to today. We are dealing with an issue through the Minister's office at the moment. I ask her to look at bureaucracy. These people are drawing down funding for projects within the child care facilities and are trying to make every cent stretch to the limit. They are looking at every euro they get from the Department or Pobal and trying to make €2 out of every €1. For one or another reason, there might be an overlap or oversight. The Department and Pobal need to be very careful. They need to look at what might be perceived as but is nowhere near being a conflict of interest within the boards of these child care facilities. Every person on these boards is managing these facilities. I know them very well. They try to make €1 into €2. Deputy Rabbitte referred to Deputy Ó Laoghaire's point that staff do not enter the sector for the money. They do it for love. I have seen the excellent staff there. They have protested outside the gates of this House about funding on numerous occasions over the past three or four years because they feel the sector is not getting the recognition it deserves. It is the foundation stone of how we are going to educate our young people - the next generation and the generations into the future. I ask the Minister to make sure it is not over-bureaucratised. I ask her to make sure that the funding is given in a transparent way, not to come down on the voluntary people because of oversights relating to small issues and to make sure bureaucracy is lifted. We need to recognise, highlight and be more appreciative of the staff who are providing child care throughout this country in the voluntary and private sectors.

Deputy Mary Butler

As we heard earlier, many staff working in the early childhood education sector will be forced to sign on this week for the duration of the summer. Some even signed on last week. This is due to shorter work contracts and reduced hours of works, with which most workers do not have to contend. As we have heard, wages within this sector do not reflect the work that these heroes do each day. They are heroes who have given this State some service.

High quality early childhood education and care is extremely beneficial to young children and provides a foundation for their education and development. As we all know, early intervention is essential and key for children with complex needs. I will give the example of Sesame Special Needs Preschool in Dungarvan in County Waterford. This is a community play group established especially for children with additional needs and it is the only centre of its kind in west Waterford. This facility caters for 42 children and employs six staff, one of whom is a nurse who works 30 hours per week. The children cared for at Sesame Special Needs Preschool have complex, intellectual special needs so this is a vital service for the children and their families. Each child in this facility is referred by the HSE. However, each child can only attend the centre for three hours, three days a week - a maximum of nine hours - due to a lack of funding.

Along with many others, this centre requires extra funding so that it will be able to take on more children for a longer period of time each day. Today I spoke with Eleanor, the manager, and asked her about her wish list. If she had one, what would it be? Her answer was one I am proud to put on the record of the Dáil. She would prefer extra funding to employ more staff so that each child could be offered in excess of the nine hours weekly. This would mean the parents - the full-time carers - could get an extra couple of hours respite. The other wish was that the preschool could offer the service year round but this is not possible due to funding. On Friday, 7 July, the Sesame Special Needs Preschool will close until 4 September. Why? It is not because of the school holidays but because there is not enough funding to pay the staff who will now sign on for a social protection payment when the preschool should be open next week offering these vital services that are required every week. This preschool is funded for 44 weeks per year so for the six weeks for which they are not funded, staff must sign on. Surely the budget is not so restrictive that these children with complex and profound disabilities could not be offered a year-round service. The nurse who works with these children for 30 hours per week is a fantastic young girl but the preschool knows they will lose her because she cannot get a mortgage or a loan to buy a car on 30 hours work per week for 44 weeks of the year. That is the reality. Those three hours respite per day were so important for parents dealing with children with complex needs 24-7. I commend Deputies Function and Ó Laoghaire for bringing such an important motion before the House.

Deputy Brendan Smith

I also welcome and am happy to support this motion. As will be obvious from all the contributions here this evening, there are huge pressures on the child care sector. The sector has developed rapidly since the late 1990s, which is a very welcome development. I know from representing two rural counties that up until that time, there were little or no services in rural Ireland. Thankfully, as Deputy Rabbitte noted, the community child care sector plus the private operators have enlarged capacity hugely and good services are spread throughout the country in both rural and urban Ireland.

It is obvious there is a need for increased investment. We need to reduce the cost for parents and we also need to reward the skills, professionalism, care, commitment and diligence of child care workers as well. I am glad the Minister refers to the "child care professionals". Those of us in public life for some years in different roles went to different ceremonies, events and centres and encouraged child care professionals to upskill continually and to pursue FETAC courses and achieve different levels of qualifications. We were encouraging them to do that and it is always on the basis that people should be rewarded for the additional skills and professionalism they bring to their jobs. Sadly, that is not happening.

I also want to refer to the comment of Deputy Michael Moynihan with regard to bureaucracy. I spoke to a private child care provider the other evening and she emphasised to me that under no circumstances would she ever compromise on standards but she said we need to take a reality check with regard to some of the regulations and bureaucracy. None of us here wants to see any compromise on standards. We want the proper standards to be adhered to at all times. If we are to develop the sector further we need to reward child care professionals. We need to ensure that community child care is adequately funded by the State as well and that private operators are able to continue to operate as well. The last thing we need to see, particularly in the sparsely-populated areas that I represent, would be the closure of any facility. If that happens, there will not be a new one re-opening.

Deputy Eugene Murphy

It is only right that we pay tribute to Deputy Kathleen Funchion and Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire for the very important work coming before this House this evening. As Deputy Anne Rabbitte has already said, we will fully support it. We have been doing much work behind the scenes ourselves on this issue and we know what the problems are. We have a problem and the Minister knows this. The early child education and care spend in this country is 0.5% of GDP. In fact, I would argue that it is 0.4%. I am sure the Minister knows that the EU average is 0.8% to 0.9%. In the Nordic countries, it is 2%. The reality is that there is underinvestment and underspend and that means only one thing. It means low pay, staff turnover at a very high rate and it also means that many of those facilities will find it difficult to stay open.

I attended a public meeting last Monday night in Kilbride in County Roscommon. It was a huge meeting and three points came out of it, which were low wages, lack of consultation - a hugely important point - and lack of direct investment. A survey was done at that meeting. Some 43% of those people working in the sector work for 41 weeks or less, therefore they have to sign on for the summer. Some 38% are paid under €10 an hour, and 21% are on €9.25, the minimum wage. That clearly shows there is a problem and the situation is the same around the country.

The reason I gave the Minister those figures is because it is extremely important to say that we, the parents, hand over our children from the age of three months to 13 years to those people who have one of the most important jobs in society - I know the Minister is very strong on this herself - to look after and nurture those kids and they do a fantastic job. The reality is that these are very professional people, but they are treated like yellow pack workers. I do not like using that phrase, but many people know what that refers to. We must value those people and we must have increased investment. I say one thing in conclusion. We have not been in power for six years but we had an impeccable record with regard to the community child care service. The Minister referred to this, but I know she did not mean it against just Fianna Fáil. I ask the Minister to check the figures. We did much work when we were in government and we are working now. I would not like to be included as a successive Government that did not do much for the sector.

Deputy Robert Troy

I want to acknowledge the Minister's own interests and the personal contribution that she has made in this sector in her lifetime. I think that now she can use her position to increase the contribution that she makes to the early years sector and I want to focus, in my two minutes, on the community settings where we as a previous Fianna Fáil Government have a proud track record, because we invested heavily in the physical infrastructure that is now in place right throughout the length and breadth of Ireland, mainly in disadvantaged areas, where the physical infrastructure is there. What we now want to see is that investment carried through to ensure the professional people who are working with children are adequately compensated. The community setting is facing a major challenge with the withdrawal of the community employment, CE, workers. We spoke about this six weeks ago during Parliamentary Questions here.

It has to be acknowledged that, for the most part, community settings are located in largely disadvantaged areas. They deal with complex issues and complex cases and they need that additional support. I think what should be looked at from the point of view of the early years setting is that, in our national schools, we have the delivering equality of opportunity, DEIS, band for schools that deal with particular disadvantaged children. We should look at introducing that immediately in the early years setting so that they get the additional supports because they intervene much more.

What the Minister should do and look at, which would make a difference to the sector, is that we pay for services for 38 weeks for the free preschool year, but we require the service to pay 42-week staff. We should be paying for the full 42 weeks. That would be a major benefit. We were holding back the capitation rate if a child missed more than ten days in the service. That does not happen in national school and it should not happen in the early years setting and it would benefit the service if the Minister could look at that. There are many challenges in this area. I think and hope the Minister will take on board the many positive contributions coming from across the House this evening and look at resolving the complex issues that face this sector into the future.

Deputy Jan O'Sullivan

I too would like to compliment Deputy Kathleen Funchion and Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire for giving us the opportunity to debate this issue and for bringing forward the motion. I welcome the various groups in the Gallery. I think it is opportune for a number of reasons that we are having this debate now, first because the new scheme is about to come in, described as the more affordable child care scheme. I will come back to that. I know the Minister described it as the first big step in changing Irish child care forever, but there are certain issues around it that I want to come back to. Second, in the context that the Minister also raised, of budgetary preparation, I agree with Deputy Ó Laoghaire that it is much more important that we spend money on services such as child care than for all of the money to go on tax cuts. We feel very strongly in the Labour Party about the importance of spending on services, particularly on a service such as early years care, which has been neglected and which needs a significant injection of funding to bring it up to the kind of averages which are talked about in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD. We fully support investing and we will fully support the Minister, Deputy Katherine Zappone, in fighting for funding for this sector in the budget and I think that is the general view around the House.

I want to correct the record a little on our own period in government. Fianna Fáil referred to community child care. The early childhood care and education scheme, ECCE, both the first year and second year, was a considerable injection of funds into the sector and has made a very big difference to families. That was done in really tough economic times over the last-----

Deputy Robert Troy

Former Deputy Barry Andrews was the first.

Deputy Jan O'Sullivan

I accept that and have just said that. The second one made a big difference when times were extremely difficult. The new bringing together of schemes is important, but it needs to be funded and that is the other point I want to make.

In some ways, we have one part of the issue which there has been funding for, which is around the affordability issue for parents, but that obviously has to be stepped up and gradually built on over the years and that is why we developed a five-year funding programme relating to the early years sector. The other side of it is the ability to pay the kind of wages that people in the sector are absolutely entitled to and need. That brings me to the other opportune point, which is that the living wage has been assessed today as being €11.70 per hour. We know that the vast majority of child care workers do not earn anything near that. We did a costing in our alternative budget last year which suggested that we needed to put in €62.6 million just to bring up the wages to the living wage at that time, which is less than the living wage that has been announced today. We need the injection of funding in order to make it more affordable for parents. We also need an injection of funding, and we need to cost it, to ensure that providers can actually afford to pay the wages, whether they are community providers or private providers.

The parents cannot afford to pay any more and the money has to come from somewhere. I believe it has to come through a Government injection of funds carefully organised and planned through the recognised sector.

I also very much welcome the fact that both SIPTU and IMPACT are involved in campaigning on this because it is important the trade unions get behind the workers in this sector. They have succeeded in other sectors in bringing wages up because of campaigning and involvement. We all have met them and we all have listened to the cases they have made. We definitely need to work altogether on this.

I refer to the issue of how people are paid. For example, I was at a meeting in Deputy Brendan Ryan's constituency recently where a woman working in the sector said she would have been paid better in the local supermarket but yet she had a full child care qualification. She had done years in college and yet her wages were less than what she would have got if she worked in the local supermarket. There is something very wrong with that. With hugely committed workers, we cannot just keep saying that. We have to pay them appropriately for the work they do.

I believe we need the costing. I note that is in the proposal. I also am aware that Early Childhood Ireland, whose representatives are in the Gallery, did a significant piece of work on how the Minister needs to inject funds. We have much of the information already. We need to start in this year's budget. By all means, then let us have a plan for the future - I note the strategy is coming down the line - but it needs to start with significant funding in the upcoming budget.

I do not have much time left and I want to specifically raise some of the issues around the forthcoming more affordable child care scheme. This is an interim measure because the system is not ready for what was originally intended. There is a serious concern among providers that they have not seen a sample contract. The parents themselves are not quite sure how they can apply for the scheme and there is real concern that some providers will say they cannot implement it because they are not ready for it. They do not have the time to implement it. They already have a lot of paperwork to do. I note the Minister stated there is extra funding for contact time, etc., but there is a real burden. There is uncertainty about whether providers can implement the new system that is due to come on stream in September. It would be a shame for parents, but also for the providers and for the children, if we cannot implement this system. The funding, which was provided in the budget, has to be used. The providers have looked for a sample contract, I think, by the end of this week. It is imperative that those who are there to provide the scheme can make it work. I hope the Minister will listen to their concerns also.

We need a quality, affordable system. That is very much in the interests of children. All the research and all the experience of those of us who know children, have children or whatever, is that it makes an enormous difference to a child's life if he or she gets a good early start. While we fund the early years of primary school well, this early years sector has been totally neglected over many years. A start has been made. We all need to acknowledge the small amount that has been done but there is a great deal more to do. The only way we will do it is if we cost it and have a multi-annual plan of investment in that sector. It will pay back significantly in terms of the development of individual children, in particular those children who do not have the advantages at home which other children have, but also in terms of society in educational opportunity.

Those who work in that sector are really important and deserve to be paid properly. My party will be fully supporting the motion.

Deputy Gino Kenny

I commend Sinn Féin for this motion and, in particular, the contributions of Deputies Kathleen Funchion and Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire. A number of us were at a demonstration six weeks ago outside the gates of this House organised by SIPTU on a significant day - International Children's Day. Obviously, the protest was about child care and the poor pay and conditions that workers face. Not only are poor pay and conditions a problem in child care, but so too is staff retention. As other Deputies have said, it seems incredible that we have 22,000 people looking after our children who are very badly paid. There is something fundamentally wrong with that model.

Ireland has one of the most expensive child care systems in the OECD. It is the most expensive with the least subsidies and a workforce that is badly paid. Obviously, there are parallels between what is going on in child care and the health care system. There is pay apartheid in the health care system.

As Deputies have said, there is this mystical Nordic child care plan that we all aspire to. The nearest we get to Nordic child care in Ireland is if we go to IKEA and leave our children in the crèche there. The facts speak for themselves. In Ireland, we spend 0.5% of GDP. If one wants a Nordic child care system, one must spend 2% of GDP on child care. It is a lack of investment that has led to this debate on poor pay and conditions for staff.

I think the Minister will admit that there is a genuine crisis in the child care system in this country. When I was investigating this and doing a bit of research, I found there is a bewildering array of child care schemes. I understand the Minister is trying to amalgamate them. There is the community childcare subvention programme, the after-school childcare scheme, the childcare education and training support programme and the early childhood care and education scheme. I welcome the fact the Minister is introducing a new scheme, a single affordable child care scheme with a universal subsidy, to replace the other schemes. I hope I am correct in that.

Currently, we have over 4,000 child care service providers, between community and private for profit. I really welcome that this motion shines a light on those who look after our children. Obviously, they want to be as committed as possible to their work.

We should aspire to the Nordic model. If we do not give subvention to child care, it will have a knock-on effect on the workers and also on the quality of child care. Child care is an invaluable form of looking after our children and society as a whole.

Deputy Mick Barry

I welcome those child care workers, trade unionists and campaigners for decent pay and conditions who are in the Visitors Gallery and who are watching on television screens around the country. I want to indicate that we, on these benches, will be supporting the Sinn Féin motion when the votes are taken.

The average hourly rate of pay for a child care assistant in the State is €10.27 per hour. That is doubly a scandal, given the importance of the work that is being done by these workers. These workers have invariably spent very significant sums of money, running to thousands of euro, putting themselves through college and getting the training and qualifications for the work and yet multiple indignities are heaped on them. Of course, many of them are forced to sign on the dole during the months of July and August. They have no choice in that matter.

Professional workers deserve professional pay.

One Deputy mentioned that the rate for the living wage is €11.70 as of this week. No child care professional in this State should earn less than that.

I note with interest the reference in the Minister's speech to an approach involving a central employment order through either the Workplace Relations Commission or the Labour Court. The Minister assured the House that her Department would make a submission to such a process. Those words should serve as a green light for trade unions and in particular for child care workers to flood into the unions in this country in vast numbers, linking the demand for sectoral employment orders with a decent rate of pay.

I want to bring before the House a case relating to the summer scheme at the Before 5 Nursery and Family Centre in Churchfield, Cork. I wish to highlight part of the Minister's speech. She stated:

The word from the grassroots in communities is that action is not being taken. The Before 5 Nursery and Family Centre in Churchfield, Cork, is an after-school arrangement that caters for 33 families. There are 28 children there on a daily basis. Many of those children would have no holidays whatsoever were it not for the scheme. Activities include going to the beach or the local five-a-side centre, painting in the centre and so on for four days per week for four weeks, yet that arrangement had to be collapsed this year because the resources are not in place. After-school services are not properly funded. The changes in the community employment childcare programme came from the Department of Social Protection four years ago. The number of CE staff in the centre in Cork is down from four to one. Nothing has been put in place to replace the programme or to make arrangements for the summer holidays for children from those families from this working class community in my constituency.

I do not think that is the only summer scheme facing that situation this summer. There needs to be action. The words do not match the reality. Action is not being taken. There needs to be progress on this immediately.

Deputy Joan Collins

I will speak for three minutes and my colleague, Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan, will speak for five minutes.

I will be succinct in what I have to say. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this Private Members' Bill today. It is certainly at an opportune moment especially given what has been said about workers in the childcare sector, many of whom are facing a period on the dole from this week.

We know what the issues are and I am not going to go through them again. The sector has been starved of money. Money was put into the community sector, but not enough. Then, there was considerable reliance on the private sector but vast amounts of money are needed. A parent is almost paying a second mortgage for child care and crèche costs. That is not necessarily the fault of those running the childcare facilities. Other factors include health and safety and all the regulation that goes with it. Then there is the matter of paying staff, although the pay is not great.

What really struck me from the Minister's speech was the point about sectoral arrangements and the Workplace Relations Commission. It highlights one thing to me in this sector. I was at a meeting yesterday of English language teachers, another sector of teaching where the same situation arises. They are on fixed-term contracts. They do not get paid for holidays or sick pay. They are trying to get union representation.

The sectoral issue was raised in the context of the employment order. We were informed that a union has to have a given number of members before an order can be made. I endorse the call by Deputy Mick Barry for everyone in the sector to join a union and demand the sectoral employment order. That is how they will achieve it or win it. It is important for that to happen. Without that voice they will not get it. If the Minister is saying that the Department would support it, then Deputies in the Dáil would support it also.

This area has to be addressed. It is an important sector. We all know that. It is relevant for the professionals who work in the sector and run it. Parents expect professional education and care for their children. I hope we will not be sitting here for the next two years. There will always be a problem with child care, but at the end of the day I support Deputies who have said that the sector requires significant investment. It is a public service that should be paid for.

I particularly agree with the call in the Sinn Féin motion on the Government to carry out, as a matter of urgency, an independent early years service cost and sustainability review. I am unsure of the Minister's position. Does she support it? We need to look at what the costs are and then we can move to where we need to go.

Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan

I thank Deputy Kathleen Funchion for bringing forward this debate tonight. It comes after the recent exchange of questions on child care. We all agree on the importance of early childhood education. All children should have education, care and support in a safe nurturing environment.

Children in disadvantaged areas have additional needs and they present further challenges. I want to make a special case for community child care because these are the children in communities of greatest need.

A survey was done of a number of community child care services. The survey found that 34% of the children attending were from a lone-parent background, a figure twice the national average. Some 35% are from a household where no adult is working. Again, that figure is twice the national average. The survey found that 16% attending had English as a second language. In Dublin Central the figure is far higher. The services are also taking referrals from Tusla and public health nurses. Moreover, they make referrals onto other services. I am making the case that they have additional needs and challenges.

I believe there should be positive discrimination towards those areas of greatest need. If we do not make a real difference in the early years, then those children will be playing catch-up for the rest of their childhood. They will be at a disadvantage going into primary school. That makes it very difficult for them when they get to second level.

My constituency has some excellent community child care services. Those involved are coping and working to address the challenges. Of course, in Dublin Central those challenges have been added to in the past year by the number of murders as well as the violence and anti-social behaviour. Our children are going to the community child care services and schools. They have had murders on their streets. The Garda armed response unit is an almost daily vision that they see on their way here and there. Members of their families have been shot. That is what the community child care services and the schools are dealing with. The pay does not match those responsibilities. Kieran Mulvey's report recognises that this cohort of people working in preschool child care, primary and post-primary schools are working hard to provide stability and security for children.

We need to get early years community care right. We need to get the right staff with qualifications in place; they have a unique role. We know the scheme enables those in unemployment to get into the labour market, because quality child care is available.

The Minister referenced €1 million in funding for community child care for those having difficulty meeting the regulatory requirements due to change, especially those who are relying on CE schemes. We need to look at that. The Minister said it is making a difference, but we need more detail on those services where it is not making a difference. I understand the reasoning behind the changes. We all agree on the need for quality and recognised qualifications that are at least FETAC level 5. However, it would be good to look at the possibility of a grandfather clause. Reference was made to DEIS status. Such an arrangement could tide those community child care settings over while the staff are being trained. Some of them are approaching the end of that training.

The pay issue is relevant. The reports and the evidence are available. Low pay is a fact for those working in the sector, especially those in the community sector. We are seeing an increase in the part-time employment and 38-week contracts. They have been referred to as well. The wages do not reflect the qualifications. Also, the setting does not incentivise those working in child care to move towards further qualifications.

I like the BA degree course in early childhood care which is provided part time in the National College of Ireland because it recognises prior experiential learning, such that experience and relevant work count as basic qualifications.

There are higher costs in providing child care in urban settings. The Minister mentioned an independent review of quality child care. The information provided for Deputies by the Oireachtas Library and Research Service references the many reports already produced in this area, including a number last year, including a departmental survey, an early years profile, a national skills bulletin, an ICTU report, not to mention previous reports and surveys. I wonder, therefore, about the necessity for another report. We all know what needs to be done; we just need to do it. Will the recommendations made in the Early Childhood Ireland report be implemented?

Deputy Michael Healy-Rae

I am sharing time with Deputy Mattie McGrath.

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this Private Members' motion on the important issue of child care provision and costs. As rightly highlighted, issues such as pay, public and private service provision and the cost of child care have up until now been brushed under the table, particularly by the previous Government. The people who provide private and public child care services are dedicated to the job. They would not do it if they did not enjoy caring for young children. From my point of view, the biggest problem facing us in this area is that of striking a balance between providing child care and providing the service at an affordable cost. Young couples are struggling with child care costs which are akin to having a second mortgage. There are many young people in this and other cities who are struggling to meet mortgage repayments and child care costs. It is impossible. Sinn Féin is correct to use its Private Members' time to have a debate on the subject.

I listened in my office to the Minister's contribution. I agree with other Members that her heart is in the right place and that she is coming to this issue a little late in that there has been a lot of neglect in this area up until now, but I appreciate her strong interest in the matter. I hope that in having this debate we will arrive at a solution. We do not want those involved in the sector to be underpaid. We do not want those providing child care to be second-class citizens. We want their work and effort to be as valued as the work and effort of others in other sections of society.

While I do not wish to single out anybody, I compliment one particular group in this area, namely, those who have set up crèches or child care facilities and are struggling to pay rates and public liability insurance. They face the same challenges as any small business, while at the same time providing safe and secure care for the young children in their charge. All parents know that one of the biggest responsibilities of a parent is caring for and minding a child. Caring for the children of others is a serious operation.

It is important to highlight the problems in the sector. Many Deputies have made very valuable contributions. It is welcome that Sinn Féin has the support of Fianna Fáil, the Labour Party and others, including the Minister, on this issue. It is important that we address the problems in this area and that we ensure private and public service providers are properly paid and that child care is affordable for the struggling young families who are strapped financially.

Deputy Mattie McGrath

I welcome the opportunity to speak to the motion and take the opportunity to offer my sympathy to the Minister on her recent sad loss.

Yesterday I received an email about this issue, in which I was informed that Ireland spent only 0.5% of GDP on early childhood education and child care, which is well below the EU average of 0.8% and the 2% of GDP invested by the Nordic countries in this area. I received another email from Private Early Education Providers, PEEP, the national representative body for private child care providers, which stated some of its members would be forced not to offer the new Government designed affordable child care scheme owing to a lack of information on how it would be implemented and insufficient funding for the management and provision of the scheme. According to PEEP, while the scheme is due to be rolled out in September, parents appear to be unaware of it and child care providers have yet to see a copy of the contract they are expected to sign to deliver the programme, which is outrageous. We heard earlier about issues to do with special needs assistants, although the Taoiseach clarified that the matter was discussed by the Cabinet today. It is not good enough that parents and providers are being kept in the dark.

Despite repeated requests to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, vital information on conditions for providers who will deliver the scheme is not forthcoming. This, too, is not good enough. The people concerned are public servants and should be treated as such and given the information they need on the provision of this service. We all support the call for improved working conditions for those who work in this vitally important sector.

As we know, the consequences of under-investment are all too familiar. Pay is low for educators; staff turnover is high and services are struggling to remain open. I was chairperson and a founding member of a naíonra in my village. I also served on its board for a number of years. I understand having to live from day to day and week to week is not good enough as it undermines efforts to ensure the provision of high-quality care for children.

Another aspect of the debate that does not receive enough attention is that the fundamental issue with many of the Government’s child care proposals is that very often they represent an attack on parents who do not want to seek paid work because one or other wants to mind the children at home. Long before we had any of these schemes one parent remained at home to care for a child or children. The view is that parents who wish to mind their children at home are placing them at a developmental disadvantage. Nothing could be further from the truth. We need to challenge much of the so-called evidence that children over the age of one year have better outcomes in day care than they do at home.

I will conclude with the following quote taken from a UNICEF report:

Notwithstanding the evidence, the amount of time spent in centre-based care must be considered. Evidence suggests that prolonged periods in centre based care can have a negative impact on children’s outcomes, particularly for younger children.

Nowhere does the report seem to contemplate just how radical it is to say children are actually better off being cared for by someone other than their own parents. The aim should be to ensure as many children as possible are cared for at home. The report also does not honestly face up to the fact that many of its proposals are a blow to stay-at-home parents. We need stay-at-home parents. We are all about choice and equality. If parents choose to remain at home to care for a child or children, they should be supported in doing so.

I accept that the Minister is fairly new to the portfolio, but I appeal to her to direct her officials to provide the information requested. It is not fair that parents and providers do not have it. As in the case of SNAs and the Taoiseach's statement this morning that we will never again have to wait until July for it to be announced, parents and service providers need the information now. They are doing the State a service. They earn a pittance and need to be supported. Above all else, they need to be given the information requested.

Deputy Róisín Shortall

I wish to share my time with Deputies Seamus Healy and Michael Fitzmaurice.

I commend Deputy Kathleen Funchion for taking this initiative. The Social Democrats fully support this motion. We have always known the first five years in a person's life are the most important. It is the time when the future emotional, social and educational well-being of a person is laid down. However, when it comes to Government investment, children always seem to be the last in line. As a result, we have one of the most underfunded and underdeveloped child care systems in the European Union. UNICEF’s international benchmark for investment in early years education is 1% of GDP. We spend just 0.5% below the average for OECD countries and just 25% of the European average investment in early years services. We are nowhere near the 1.8% of GDP spent in Iceland, the 1.6% spent in Sweden or the 1.4% invested in Denmark. As a result of this chronic underfunding, we now have a service that is highly inconsistent and a sector that is verging on a staffing crisis.

We have all seen the recent survey from Early Childhood Ireland that showed 86% of its respondents are concerned that difficulties recruiting and retaining staff will impact on the viability of its services. Some 36% of those who tried to recruit staff in the past 12 months were unable to find anyone suitable. Most concerning of all, however, is that 46% of those who they managed to recruit had to settle for someone with lower qualifications than they would have wanted. That is not surprising. Despite the fact this is a well qualified workforce, with a minimum qualification of a level 5 Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI award, they are earning below the living wage and working in incredibly precarious conditions.

Among the estimated 22,000 workers in this sector, many are employed for just 15 hours a week or on contract for only 39 weeks in a year, forcing thousands of trained workers to sign on to social welfare each summer. That is no way to treat an essential workforce, and it is no wonder that the sector has a staff turnover rate of almost 30%.

The motion before the House aims to create an employment regime that reflects the level of professionalism and educational attainment that we expect from those entrusted with the care of our children. If that is the aim, it is critical that child care workers organise and join a union and ensure they achieve their basic rights as workers.

The current system is completely unacceptable and there is a clear need for the introduction of professional pay scales, continuous professional development, and paid non-contract time. However, we also need to know what it is actually costing to run a quality service which can appropriately remunerate its staff. In the absence of the sort of robust cost review called for by Early Childhood Ireland, it is hard to see the basis on which the Government is making its policy decisions.

This is evident in the approaching roll-out of the affordable child care scheme. Other speakers have quoted what the private early education providers have said regarding the lack of information on contracts.

Fundamentally, it indicates a lack of respect for those who will be providing the service. This needs to end. If we are to ensure the quality of care we expect this sector to provide, then the Government needs to take action and provide for decent pay and fair working conditions in this most important sector.

Deputy Seamus Healy

In the two minutes available to me, I want to welcome all those in the Visitors Gallery who are involved in the child care area. I compliment Deputy Kathleen Funchion on bringing forward this Private Members' motion. She is very well briefed and has a very good understanding of the service. I will be supporting this motion.

I have been involved in this area for the past 15 years as a board member of a community child care centre and I know the service has been historically underfunded and under pressure on a daily, and an hourly, basis.

It is very important to compliment the staff of the child care facilities who work above and beyond the call of duty on a daily basis and who have a huge personal commitment. They provide a professional, quality service. They upskill themselves at their own expense. They are involved very flexibly in the running of centres, coming in early, going home late and so on. Without the commitment of the staff in the centres, there is no doubt many services would be closed by now. Many staff have suffered pay cuts or a cut in their hours in recent years and some people have lost their jobs. As was mentioned earlier, many will sign on for social welfare in the summer months and some will not even qualify for payments.

I welcome the involvement of IMPACT and SIPTU trade unions in this area because proper pay and conditions of employment is a must for staff and for the provision of a quality child care service. To do that, there must be proper State funding of the service to OECD levels.

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice

I compliment Deputies Kathleen Function and Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire on bringing forward this motion. Any Deputy who attended the meetings held around the country will be aware that three issues emerged, namely, investment, wages and consultation. The first message we got was that the workers felt they were not being listened to and that they were not at the table able to talk to the people who mattered. That was a major concern. The second issue was of investment. Considerable investment went into the building of community crèches throughout the country down through the years, but they need investment year in, year out to replace items and to carry out necessary work, but that has not happened. The third issue was wages. It was pointed out that a person in this sector, having gone to college to get a degree, would be paid more per hour working in a local shop.

Those of us who are parents of young children drop our children off at a private or a public crèche in the morning and we trust the person running that crèche. That person could be a mother who got her own children out that morning, went to the crèche to mind other people's children and then goes to college at night to further her education. That must be respected. If we do not respect these people, we will lose them.

The paperwork involved in running crèches needs to be cut down. I attended one of those meetings one night and there were almost 10 yd of paperwork on the different things one must do to ensure one qualifies for the different grants. People do not have time for that, and that needs to be sorted.

Many people running private crèches during the bad times paid the mortgage but they had no wages for themselves. No one will claim we can solve this matter overnight, but I ask the Minister to give the people in this sector a roadmap for the next two, three or four years to let them know where they are going and, above all, to believe in where they are going.

Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

As has been said a number of times, there is an estimated 22,000 staff in the early childhood education and care sector in this State. Their job is an incredibly important one. Parents place their trust in them to look after and aid the development of their young children. Their worth is acknowledged by many but not by all. There is little doubt but that the Government has failed at least to date to recognise the contribution they make, as it has failed to address the wholly inadequate pay rates experienced by those working in this sector. It is no exaggeration to say that these workers have been and continue to be exploited.

The average wage of a child care worker falls significantly below the living wage and does not reflect their qualifications. Thousands of them are on a 38-week contract which means that during the summer period they will be left with no other option but to go on social welfare. Is it any wonder that community and private child care services are struggling to retain, let alone recruit, staff? It comes as no surprise that evidence shows that early childhood education is crucial for children at the foundation stage of their development. It is also no secret that the improvement of working conditions and salaries will not only benefit those working in the sector but will also be to the advantage of the children. It is in all our interests to ensure that the situation is improved and that our children have the best possible start in their lives.

It is high time the Government properly recognised the valuable contribution of early years sector, as distinct from fine words and faint praise that we have heard all too often.

Their contribution to Irish society in providing early education and care for the youngest of Irish citizens should no longer be dismissed. We spend significantly less on early years education, at 0.5% of gross domestic product, against the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average of 0.7% and even less than the international benchmark of 1%. Investment is needed to bring us into line with other countries.

Another issue of concern that has recently been brought to my attention pertaining to child care is the difficulty experienced by parents in securing the necessary supports in preschools for their children with special needs. In my constitutency of Cavan-Monaghan five new places were granted for young children under the HSE preschool support worker grants scheme - three children in Cavan and two in Monaghan. I am aware of a case in which a child with special needs has been refused support and there is, therefore, a strong possibility that she will be unable to take up her place in her playschool. That is so wrong. In response to a parliamentary question I submitted on the matter, I was informed that, alongside the HSE preschool support worker grants scheme, a service was provided as part of the access and inclusion model for which parents could apply. However, when I looked at the scheme, what I discovered and what the answer to the parliamentary question failed to mention was the fact that “finally, it should be noted that the access and inclusion model will take three to five years to fully embed as multi-annual educational and training programmes are rolled out and capacity is built up in the system. The HSE does, on an ad hoc basis, make some supports available and these arrangements will continue while the new model is being established”. The model only got going in September 2016. I have submitted a further parliamentary question asking how many children have accessed supports through the access and inclusion model seeing that the HSE can provide some supports "on an ad hoc basis". I await the Minister’s response with interest. I would also appreciate it if she could look into the matter in a more substantial way than the responses to parliamentary questions often suggest. No child should be denied a place in a preschool because he or she is differently abled, a point I emphasise.

I sincerely hope all Teachtaí will support this important motion. I commend my colleagues for their initiative in bringing it forward.

Deputy Maurice Quinlivan

I welcome everyone in the Visitors Gallery for this very important debate. I commend my colleague, Deputy Kathleen Funchion, for bringing forward the motion. It is important to recognise the great work child care providers do in highlighting and fixing the problems facing the sector, in which wage levels are a serious problem. They do not match the qualifications and experience of those providing excellent child care services. Businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to attract and retain graduates as better wages are available in other industries and countries. Many child care professionals are on the minimum wage of €9.25 which is kept too low by the Government, while many child care providers cannot raise wages as the subsides paid under child care schemes are inadequate.

The cost of child care in Ireland prevents many people from taking up work. I had a constituent in my Limerick office this week with this exact problem. She could not access child care to go out to work. Although programmes such as the early childhood care and education scheme are most welcome, this particular scheme only provides for three hours of subsidised education a day, leaving a huge cost to parents who need child care services for the full working day.

We have a low minimum wage. More than 35% of all workers in Ireland are paid €400 or less per week. How can they realistically afford child care on top of other huge costs such as rent and transport? The issue of unpaid administrative work is also of concern for child care professionals. I know providers who after a long day of minding and educating children have to go home and in their own time gather large amounts of information from parents and input it online and onto databases. All of this work goes unnoticed and is unpaid. The extension of the affordable child care scheme will only add to it.

Ireland spends significantly less on early years education, at half of the international benchmark of 1% of GDP. More investment would lead to increased standards in the care and education of our youngest citizens and help to improve conditions for professionals in the sector. Sinn Féin's motion calls on the Government to address the issue of low pay in the sector, remedy the problem of unpaid non-contact work and invest more in the early years education and care sector to improve conditions for workers, children and their parents.

Deputy Carol Nolan

I welcome the opportunity to speak about this important issue and commend my colleagues, Deputies Kathleen Funchion and Donnchadh Ó Laoighaire, for their work on the early years sector. They have been to the fore in highlighting issues of concern in it. I also welcome those in the Visitors Gallery who represent the people affected by the issues raised in the debate. I know that there are many more tuned in to watch the proceedings.

There is a growing staff crisis in the early years sector. The ever increasing burden of administration work on staff without adequate time, pay or resources is causing a huge staff turnover and a shortage of skilled workers. Thousands of staff in the sector are forced to sign on every year for the summer months, despite many of them holding professional qualifications at degree level. That is an insult to these workers who work very hard.

Despite the fact that the Government is demanding higher professional standards from early years services, the level of funding provided does not match these aspirations. In fact, there is little to incentivise highly qualified degree level workers to enter the sector for minimum wage rates and with limited career prospects. The vision for the future for the sector is central to the debate. Do we see it essentially as providing a child care service or do we see it as an extension of the education system? International research shows that high quality early childhood care and education is beneficial to young children at the foundation stage of their development. As a teacher by profession, I am only too aware of the critical impact of early years education, particularly for children who experience disadvantage. The international benchmark for expenditure on the early years sector is 1% of GDP, but the State only spends half of that amount. That says it all and I hope Deputies will give the sector the respect it deserves by supporting the motion. We need to value staff in the early years sector. This is the time to show them how much we value their work.

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Jim Daly)

On behalf of the Minister, I encourage all parents of children with disabilities to apply for the access and inclusion model, AIM, supports to which the Deputy referred. It is important that we get the message out to the parents of preschool children with disabilities that they ought to apply under the access and inclusion model. To date, more than 2,500 children have received supports under the scheme, but I suspect not everyone is aware of it and want to get that message across. The three to five year timeframe to which the Deputy referred covers the time required to ensure the staff of all services will have attended special training in inclusion which is being rolled out by the Department.

There was a reference to contracts and the assertion made by child care providers that contracts were not available. Contracts have been available to all providers since mid-May. The contracts reference two supplemental publications, the programme rules and the financial guidelines. The rules for the scheme are being rewritten to provide for greater clarity and certainty, based on feedback from the sector. There are no fundamental changes to the rules for the scheme from those currently publicly available. It is expected that the revised, clearer rules will be published in the next couple of weeks.

There was a question about the payment of €14.5 million for non-contact time. Deputies have asked when this sum will be paid. To date, 2,509 facilities have submitted the non-contact application form. That represents approximately 60% of those eligible for the funding. They will be paid in the coming days and we encourage the remaining 40% of providers to apply as soon as possible.

I thank everyone who has spoken about this matter. It has been a valuable debate.

I am encouraged the discussion on the challenges faced in early years care and education is seen as a matter worthy of our attention. Many important points were raised by Deputies and in considering the debate as a whole I was struck by the general level of agreement across a range of topics. We all agree investment is required to move forward and that the sector requires a valued, motivated and suitably educated workforce to deliver quality services to our children. These are among the important matters we will raise with Cabinet colleagues in the context of the future Estimates discussions.

There has been a clear focus throughout our discussion on the matter of pay and conditions. This is reflective of conversations I and my officials have had with over 1,000 providers and practitioners in recent weeks and months throughout the country. Some measures have been taken to assist employers with pay costs, such as the higher capitation payment mentioned in the opening address and the €18 million in non-contact time payments to be made available this year, but I appreciate that the underlying funding model needs review. It is my strong view that appropriate terms and conditions for the workforce are critical to our aim of building a sustainable infrastructure of accessible, high-quality and affordable child care in Ireland. We must ensure our investment is targeted at both quality and affordability. As a Minister of State, I am committed to addressing both simultaneously.

The independent review of the cost of providing child care in Ireland, which will be commissioned in the coming weeks, will assist greatly in providing independent and objective evidence to inform future policy. Should trade unions and other representative bodies in the sector advance a sectoral employment order, my officials will assist with any submissions required for the process. If such a process concludes and reaches a point where recommendations are made to the Labour Court, I would be a strong advocate for appropriate investment.

Along with the issue of pay, I recognise that sustainability of services remains an issue. We mentioned earlier the €1 million that has been made available to child care services to help replace unqualified community employment scheme workers and the continued work of my officials to better understand the specifics of the challenges that certain providers face. Learning from these interactions is informing policy in this area. The more affordable child care measures being introduced this September and the affordable child care scheme, which I will mention again momentarily, will both make a significant contribution to improving sustainability. Both will reduce the co-payment required from parents, as that co-payment on occasions to date proved too onerous for some families, resulting in services failing to recoup it. The income from these measures will be a reliable income and demand for child care services should increase, allowing services to expand and remain in full operation over summer months, as out-of-school demand grows for school-age children.

Since the Minister's appointment, a priority has been to meet early years care providers directly, as well as making individual visits to services and meetings with various organisations. She established the early years forum to provide for a structured engagement with the sector and she is delighted to chair quarterly meetings with the forum. I hope this improves communications and helps all of us to focus on solutions. Recent nationwide information events carried out by departmental officials were attended by people from over 1,000 providers, giving an opportunity for officials to inform the sector directly about forthcoming change and also to listen to concerns of the sector. The sector is unrecognisable from what existed ten years ago and it is still developing and changing. I pay tribute to the sector for its engagement with this development and change, as there has been a constructive partnership with the Department on this journey.

In concluding my contribution to this evening's debate, I will take some time to speak about the ongoing development of the affordable child care scheme, the single most fundamental reform undertaken in child care in a considerable time. I will highlight a number of recent positive developments. Reform of our traditional system of delivering child care supports is much-needed and there are currently five different child care funding programmes. There is one universal programme, the early childhood care and education programme, and four targeted programmes. Those targeted programmes are community child care subvention, child care education and training support, after-school child care and community employment child care programmes.

The four targeted funding programmes are administratively complex and inadequate in terms of accessibility. They vary widely in terms of access and eligibility criteria, as well as rates and levels of support. For example, in budget 2017, the Government provided funding for the development of a new single affordable child care scheme that would merge and reform the four targeted schemes. This new scheme will provide an infrastructure from which future investment in child care may be administered. The Minister was delighted to negotiate additional funding of €19 million for the development and implementation of the affordable child care scheme. That scheme will be introduced at the earliest possible date and in the meantime a very significant step will be taken from September 2017 to make child care more affordable for thousands of families throughout Ireland by making a number of enhancements to the existing targeted funding programmes. These enhancements include, for the first time, the payment of universal child care subsidies for children aged from six months until commencement in the early childhood care and education programme. Targeted child care subsidies will also increase significantly, some by 50%. The affordable child care scheme and the September measures are good news for children and families but they also represent good news for providers, as they will lead to increased and more reliable income.

The access and inclusion model was launched in June 2016 to enable the full inclusion and meaningful participation of children with disabilities in the early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme. The aim of the model is to support early years settings in delivering an inclusive preschool experience, ensuring that every eligible child can fully participate in the ECCE programme and reap the benefits of quality preschool education. The access and inclusion model is child-centred and it involves seven levels of progressive support, moving from the universal to the targeted based on the strengths and needs of the child and early years setting. Applications for the access and inclusion supports have been accepted since June 2016 and 2,892 children across 1,390 early years settings have been supported through targeted supports. It is envisaged that universal and inclusion model supports have reached even greater numbers of children and early years settings. As we continue to roll out the scheme over the next two years, my officials are committed to hearing feedback from providers and parents as to how the scheme can be further improved.

A number of other recent significant developments in child care have been designed to address matters of affordability, accessibility and quality. These initiatives include expansion of the ECCE programme so children, parents and providers would benefit from an average of 61 weeks in the programme, as opposed to the original 38 weeks. This increased the number of children benefiting in April this year to 120,00, up from 67,000 in 2016.

The introduction of the 2016 child care regulations are designed to underpin quality service provision. There was the introduction of learner funds and a graduate bursary to support the upskilling of the early years work force. There was also the introduction of the national early years quality support service, Better Start, and mentoring and support resources for early years services. We have seen the appointment of national Síolta and Aistear co-ordinators to work with 55 mentors across the country to support upskilling of the workforce and the introduction of an early years inspection function within the Department of Education and Skills, as well as enhancement of the Tusla inspectorate. All these are important initiatives designed to improve quality, affordability and access.

A Programme for a Partnership Government contains a significant number of commitments related to access to high-quality and affordable child care. The Minister is committed to seeing these through to fruition. Many steps have been taken and we must acknowledge these but more action and investment is undoubtedly required. I thank Members for their contributions on this important subject, which is very dear to the Minister, both professionally and personally.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Tá deich bomaite fágtha sa díospóireacht. Beidh an Teachta Funchion ag cur deireadh leis an díospóireacht agus beidh trí bomaite aici. Roimhe sin, tá an Teachta Pearse Doherty agus an Teachta Gerry Adams. Glaoim ar an Teachta Adams.

Deputy Gerry Adams

Tá an Teachta Doherty ar dtús.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Idir an bheirt agaibh, tá seacht bomaite.

Deputy Gerry Adams

Labhraíonn sé níos gasta ná mise.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

Tá mé fíor-bhuíoch den Teachta Kathleen Funchion as ucht an rún seo a chur os comhair na Dála anocht. Níl dabht ar bith gur cheist fíor-thábhachtach é do leanaí agus do dhaoine óga, ach go háirithe dóibh siúd atá ag obair san earnáil seo. Ba mhaith liom an deis a ghlacadh le moladh a thabhairt do mo chomhghleacaí, Teachta Funchion, as ucht an obair thábhachtach atá déanta aici ar an gceist seo. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil sí ag dul timpeall an Stáit ag plé le daoine atá ag obair san earnáil agus í ag cur tuairisc le chéile.

Despite years of inaction, not just by this Government but successive Governments, it comes as no surprise to this House that the early years education sector is in somewhat of a crisis. Those working in the sector are and have for years been subject to poor pay and inadequate working conditions. This is despite the fact they undertake what is arguably one of the most important functions in our society, being charged with caring for the well-being of children.

As I stated, I had the pleasure of working with Deputy Funchion in meeting a number of child care workers and representatives from across my county of Donegal. It was a very worthwhile and engaging experience. I could not but be impressed by their professionalism, skill and dedication to the work but I was dismayed and saddened to hear of the challenges they face while doing their job, which they love and about which they are passionate. That was very clear as we sat in the room and heard woman after woman - most of them were women, although there were some males - explaining their daily experiences and challenges. There was a lack of recognition of the role they play in society as the carers of children at a very young and vulnerable age.

The absence of agreed pay scales and adequate funding provisions means that the sector is plagued by a high staff turnover, a skills shortage and varying standards across the industry. The motion seeks to change all of that by seeking to recognise the vital work done to ensure the sector is one which meets the highest standards in the quality of care provided. Above all else, it seeks to treat the 22,000 child care professionals working in the sector with the respect and fairness they so thoroughly deserve in educating and caring for our youngest citizens. Molaim an rún seo chuig an Teach. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Funchion arís as ucht é a chur os comhair an Tí anocht.

Deputy Gerry Adams

I extend my sincerest sympathy and condolences to the Minister, Teachta Katherine Zappone, on the recent loss of her wife, Ann Louise Gilligan, whose contribution to Irish life was very significant and noteworthy. I did not know her very well, but I have to say that on the occasions I met her, even if it was only for seconds, I always felt better after meeting her. Táimid leis an Aire ag an uair dheacair seo dá saol agus tá mo chomhbhrón agus comhbhrón Shinn Féin léi fosta.

Ba mhaith liom an rún seo os ár gcomhair a mholadh. Tá mo bhuíochas ag dul do Teachta Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire as ucht é a chur faoi bhráid na Dála. Tá mé buíoch fosta den Teachta Kathleen Funchion fá choinne an obair a rinne sí ar an ábhar seo. This is a very important motion which I hope all Teachtaí will support. It calls on the Government to immediately address the issue of the extra administrative requirements which will be added to providers owing to the extension of the affordable child care scheme.

I recently met representatives of the Cox's Demense Youth and Community Project which does fantastic work with children and young people. Cox's Demense is a very disadvantaged area and the people who work in the scheme and many other volunteers do so through an after school service, a family support hub, a teen parents support programme, training schemes and the Garda youth diversion project. They have identified major concerns with the affordable child care scheme which they believe will impact negatively on their ability to offer after school services. They were not consulted and their opinions were not sought which I am sure was not the intention of the Minister. Those involved in the Cox's Demense project have come together with those involved in four other community projects in County Louth which share the same concerns, namely, Lios na nÓg, Hidden Treasures, Muirhevnamor Community Youth Project and the Moneymore after school club. They have produced a document which I have sent to the Minister. I hope she will have time to consider it.

The major problem is that the affordable child care scheme will not cover children who currently avail of after school services. I am sure the Minister recognises from her own work and life experiences the value of these projects which act as early intervention mechanisms, especially for children who are at risk and might not have another adult to whom to turn. If that is not changed, the services will close. I have met quite a few of the young people involved and they are vulnerable. They are from dysfunctional families and so on. We need to make sure we cherish them all.

Ba mhaith liom an rún seo a mholadh chuig an Dáil agus iarraim ar achan Teachta tacú leis.

Deputy Kathleen Funchion

I thank all Deputies for their contributions, sincerity and support for the motion. It is heartening that so many understand the issues facing the sector. It was important for us to have the debate to highlight the issues, but it is even more important for us to take action. Time and again, we have a tendency to come into the Chamber or other rooms in Leinster House to talk about an issue or a crisis and then go away and do nothing about it. I sincerely hope the proposals made in our motion will be supported and followed through.

I welcome many of the Minister's comments, particularly on meeting child care workers, workers in the early years sector and the unions. Her acknowledgement of the need for a sectoral employment order shows that she knows that there is a crisis in the sector and that working conditions are not good enough. However, I do not believe - I used to work for a union - that we should have to wait for a sectoral employment order. If the Minister knows that the issues need to be addressed, we should address them in the House.

All Deputies were supportive of the motion and acknowledged the fact that workers in the sector needed to be valued and paid correctly; therefore, we should examine our motion. On pay and conditions, the Minister said new approaches and thinking outside the box were required. That is welcome and exactly what we should do. In that regard, we need an independent early years service cost and sustainability review. There is no reason the Members of this House cannot decide to commission the development of nationally agreed pay scales for the early years workforce and provide the necessary funding for it.

Question put and agreed to.

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht - Wednesday, 5 Jul 2017

Early Childhood Care and Education: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members]

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 5 Jul 2017