I must now deal with a postponed division relating to the motion regarding childcare fees. On Tuesday, 3 October 2023, on the question, "That the amendment to the motion be agreed to", a division was claimed and in accordance with Standing Order 80(2), that division must be taken now.
Childcare Fees: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members]
The following motion was moved by Deputy Kathleen Funchion on Tuesday, 3 October 2023:
That Dáil Éireann:
notes that:
- childcare fees are unaffordable for many families and this is made worse by the cost-of-living crisis, which has families' finances on the brink as they are hit by a barrage of day-to-day costs;
- these prices mean many parents, especially mothers, feel forced to give up work or cut their hours, and this is exacerbating gender inequality;
- many workers in the childcare sector receive low pay, despite being highly qualified, resulting in them feeling forced out of the industry as it isn't a sustainable career path and, in turn, this means that more providers struggle to keep their doors open, adding to further problems for parents trying to secure a place for their child; and
- following sustained pressure and proposals from Sinn Féin and others, the Government was forced to tackle sustainability for services and reduce fees for parents, however their plans failed to go far enough; and
calls on the Government to:
- cut childcare fees for families by two thirds from 2022 levels, to make them affordable for parents by further increasing public investment; and
- allocate additional funding to provide fair pay for professionals working in the childcare sector.
Debate resumed on amendment No. 2:
To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:
"welcomes:
— the extensive commitments by the Government to address long standing challenges in the early learning and childcare sector;
— the increase to over €1 billion per annum in State funding for the sector this year, reaching the investment target set in 2018, five years ahead of schedule; and
— the significant prioritisation by the Government of measures designed to:
— substantially reduce out of pocket costs of early learning and childcare for families;
— increase the pay and improve the conditions of early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners;
— place early learning and childcare providers on a solid, sustainable footing; and
— recognise and bolster the vital public good contributed by the sector;
acknowledges and welcomes the major achievements of the new funding model Together for Better, which brings together three major programmes, the National Childcare Scheme (NCS), the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, including the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), and the Core Funding scheme, in particular:
— the roll-out and on-going enhancements to the NCS, which is providing subsidies, both targeted and universal, to record numbers of children this year, with €121 million in additional funding secured in Budget 2023, that is substantially reducing out of pocket costs of early learning and childcare to families by 25 per cent on average;
— the roll-out of the ECCE programme, which enjoys uptake rates in excess of 95 per cent, has removed barriers to accessing pre-school education, with data from Growing Up in Ireland showing that more than 60 per cent of low-income families would not have been able to send their child to pre-school without this programme, as well as work underway to enhance this programme, with an evaluation now underway as a precursor to putting the ECCE programme on a statutory footing;
— the roll-out of the award-winning AIM, that is supporting more than 6,000 children with a disability to access the ECCE programme each year, and the commitment to enhance and expand AIM beyond the ECCE programme; and
— the Core Funding Scheme, with an allocation of €259 million in its first year and €287 million in year 2, that supports:
— the historic Employment Regulation Orders for the Early Years' Services Sector, which came into effect in September 2022 and provides minimum hourly rates of pay for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners, increasing the wages of an estimated 73 per cent of those working in the sector, with further increases to the minimum hourly rates of pay currently being considered by the Joint Labour Committee, as well as an updated Employment Regulation Order to remove the three-year experience rule to attract the graduate premium, which is being supported through Core Funding;
— the introduction of a new fee management system which means no increase in fees since September 2021, which, in tandem with developments to the NCS, is delivering enormous benefits to families;
— the introduction of a requirement of services to offer the NCS to all eligible families, which has led to a 15 per cent increase in the number of services offering the NCS, thus substantially widening access to this State support;
— a significant growth in capacity for cohorts and in areas where there is undersupply, allowing greater access for children and their families, with additional funding in year 2 for a further 3 per cent increase in capacity; and
— the introduction of increased funding for all services this year, along with targeted increases for small, sessional services at a cost of €7.2 million;
— the latest data from Tusla's register of Early Years Services and register of School-Aged Services that shows:
— closures of early learning and childcare services nationally is at a five-year low; and
— the overall number of early learning and care and standalone school-age childcare services is now increasing; and
— the wider reform agenda underway in the area of early learning and childcare, through implementation of a range of other policies and programmes, including:
— the €70 million Building Blocks Capital Programme, under the National Development Plan 2021-2030, that is designed to meet current and long-term early learning and childcare infrastructure needs;
— the work underway to implement the National Action Plan for Childminding 2021-2028, with a commitment to opening the NCS to childminders at the earliest possible opportunity;
— the work underway to implement other recommendations in Partnership for the Public Good, including a new Tackling Disadvantage fund, the Equal Participation Model, whereby, services will be provided with a proportionate mix of universal and targeted supports to support children and families accessing their services who are experiencing disadvantage; and
— the work underway to implement Nurturing Skills, the Workforce Plan for the Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare Sector 2022-2028, with commitments to develop career pathways, promote careers in the sector and support staff recruitment, complementing recent achievements and future plans to improve pay and conditions of employment in the sector;
also notes:
— the recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data that shows Ireland's performance in supporting families, and particularly lone parent families, with the cost of early learning and childcare markedly improving, even before the impact of recent enhancements to the NCS or the fee freeze is taken into account, specifically, OECD data that shows Ireland having the highest decrease in early learning and childcare costs to families across the European Union (EU) over the period 2019-2021, and that shows net childcare costs as a share of the household's net income for lone parents on low income in 2021, falling below the EU average for the first time;
— the recent report from the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council. Ireland's Competitiveness Challenge 2023, that welcomes the ongoing work by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in this policy area and notes progress made likely to be 'a contributing factor behind the increase in female participation and our better performance in this area than many EU countries';
— the 2023 Country Report for Ireland from the European Commission, which rated Ireland's progress on the County Specific Recommendation to 'increase access to affordable and quality childcare' as 'substantial'; and
— the recent OECD Country Policy Review of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Ireland concluded that 'Ireland is currently pursuing a strong policy agenda for Early Childhood Education and Care, with the adoption of a long-term whole-of-government strategy for babies, young children and their families covering the period 2019 to 2028' and acknowledged that 'the country has committed itself to improving access, affordability and quality of ECEC provision'; and
while noting that further developments and investment are required, recognises that there are many positive and progressive elements to the current early learning and childcare sector and acknowledges the pathway for improving access, affordability, quality and sustainability are set out in national policies, which Government has committed to implementing in this upcoming Estimates process and beyond.".
- (Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth)
Amendment put:
The Dáil divided: Tá, 73; Níl, 62; Staon, 0.
Tá
- Brophy, Colm.
- Browne, James.
- Bruton, Richard.
- Burke, Colm.
- Byrne, Thomas.
- Cahill, Jackie.
- Calleary, Dara.
- Cannon, Ciarán.
- Carroll MacNeill, Jennifer.
- Chambers, Jack.
- Collins, Niall.
- Costello, Patrick.
- Coveney, Simon.
- Cowen, Barry.
- Devlin, Cormac.
- Dillon, Alan.
- Donnelly, Stephen.
- Donohoe, Paschal.
- Duffy, Francis Noel.
- Durkan, Bernard J.
- English, Damien.
- Farrell, Alan.
- Feighan, Frankie.
- Flaherty, Joe.
- Flanagan, Charles.
- Fleming, Sean.
- Foley, Norma.
- Griffin, Brendan.
- Harris, Simon.
- Haughey, Seán.
- Heydon, Martin.
- Higgins, Emer.
- Humphreys, Heather.
- Kehoe, Paul.
- Lahart, John.
- Lawless, James.
- Leddin, Brian.
- Madigan, Josepha.
- Martin, Catherine.
- Matthews, Steven.
- McAuliffe, Paul.
- McConalogue, Charlie.
- McEntee, Helen.
- McGrath, Michael.
- McGuinness, John.
- McHugh, Joe.
- Moynihan, Aindrias.
- Moynihan, Michael.
- Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
- Naughton, Hildegarde.
- Noonan, Malcolm.
- O'Brien, Darragh.
- O'Brien, Joe.
- O'Callaghan, Jim.
- O'Connor, James.
- O'Dea, Willie.
- O'Donnell, Kieran.
- O'Donovan, Patrick.
- O'Dowd, Fergus.
- O'Gorman, Roderic.
- O'Sullivan, Christopher.
- O'Sullivan, Pádraig.
- Ó Cathasaigh, Marc.
- Ó Cuív, Éamon.
- Rabbitte, Anne.
- Richmond, Neale.
- Ring, Michael.
- Ryan, Eamon.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Smyth, Niamh.
- Smyth, Ossian.
- Stanton, David.
- Varadkar, Leo.
Níl
- Andrews, Chris.
- Barry, Mick.
- Brady, John.
- Browne, Martin.
- Canney, Seán.
- Carthy, Matt.
- Clarke, Sorca.
- Collins, Michael.
- Connolly, Catherine.
- Conway-Walsh, Rose.
- Cronin, Réada.
- Crowe, Seán.
- Cullinane, David.
- Daly, Pa.
- Doherty, Pearse.
- Donnelly, Paul.
- Ellis, Dessie.
- Farrell, Mairéad.
- Fitzmaurice, Michael.
- Fitzpatrick, Peter.
- Funchion, Kathleen.
- Gannon, Gary.
- Gould, Thomas.
- Grealish, Noel.
- Guirke, Johnny.
- Healy-Rae, Danny.
- Healy-Rae, Michael.
- Howlin, Brendan.
- Kelly, Alan.
- Kenny, Gino.
- Kerrane, Claire.
- Lowry, Michael.
- Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
- McGrath, Mattie.
- McNamara, Michael.
- Mitchell, Denise.
- Munster, Imelda.
- Murphy, Catherine.
- Murphy, Paul.
- Mythen, Johnny.
- Nash, Ged.
- O'Callaghan, Cian.
- O'Donoghue, Richard.
- O'Reilly, Louise.
- O'Rourke, Darren.
- Ó Broin, Eoin.
- Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
- Ó Murchú, Ruairí.
- Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
- Pringle, Thomas.
- Quinlivan, Maurice.
- Ryan, Patricia.
- Shanahan, Matt.
- Sherlock, Sean.
- Shortall, Róisín.
- Smith, Bríd.
- Smith, Duncan.
- Stanley, Brian.
- Tóibín, Peadar.
- Ward, Mark.
- Whitmore, Jennifer.
- Wynne, Violet-Anne.
Staon
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Hildegarde Naughton and Cormac Devlin; Níl, Deputies Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Denise Mitchell.
Amendment declared carried.
Motion, as amended, agreed to.