Vol. 1066 No. 2
83. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to respond to the finding of the final substantive report of the commission of investigation into certain matters relative to a disability service in the south east and related matters, also known as the Farrelly commission, volumes 1 and 2; and the planned next steps in response. [21193/25]
I ask the Minister to respond to the report of the Farrelly commission into what has usually been termed the Grace case. More importantly, I want to know what the Minister's next steps will be and what she plans to do in response. I appreciate that much of this is HSE-related and there are a lot of questions for the HSE to answer. We are reminded that when Grace was failed in the first instance, she was a child and the Minister has a role in that regard.
The commission of investigation into certain matters relative to a disability service in the south east and related matters, or the Farrelly commission, is an independent statutory commission of investigation established in 2017 to investigate the care and protection of Grace, which, as we are all aware, is a pseudonym, and others in a former foster home in the south east, which has been the subject of abuse allegations.
It is important to note that at the heart of the report is the story of Grace, the pseudonym chosen to protect the identity and privacy of the young woman who lived with the foster family.
The final substantive report on the first phase of the Farrelly commission and the commission's statement concerning part X of its terms of reference was published on 15 April 2025. The commission’s statement on part X conclusions indicates that there is an absence of information in the possession of the commission identifying issues for further investigation with respect to the role or conduct of public authorities in respect of seven cases identified, akin to the type of concerns raised in respect of Grace, save for two cases where the role of public authorities has already been investigated and reported upon by the commission.
On the treatment of protected disclosures by whistleblowers, the commission’s statement on part X does not identify further information that would point to the merits of embarking on further investigation into how the protected disclosures were treated or the treatment of those making protected disclosures.
In that context and on the advice of the Attorney General, there is no basis for moving forward to a phase 2 of the commission of investigation. However, it is important to take every precaution to ensure the lessons from Grace’s case are applied. In that respect, I intend to undertake an expert-driven, non-statutory safeguarding exercise to identify learnings from the commission’s findings to inform present-day safeguarding policies and practices. My officials are actively seeking to identify an appropriate expert or experts in the field of safeguarding to carry out this exercise. The seven people referenced in the commission’s statement on part X and-or their representatives are being invited to participate in this exercise and share their lived experience, if they wish to do so.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. There was something really stark in the response to the report's publication. Usually, we would be shocked by such failures and grave injustices but on the back of this report's publication, we saw widespread disbelief and disappointment concerning what the report was all about. It took a very long time to conclude the report - eight years - and it has cost millions in taxpayers' money, yet there is a feeling the report has not answered key questions. For us, the Minister and her Department, it is about care and protection. That brings us to the State care system that exists today and what we can take from all this to ensure that the system works as best it can for the children in it.
I thank the Deputy. She is 100% right. There must be learnings from this. We are conscious this is the story of Grace and others. It is important to point out that since Grace's case first arose, there have been a number of steps forward in safeguarding. There was the development of the Ombudsman for Children's Office, the establishment of HIQA, the establishment of Tusla - Child and Family Agency, and the commencement of the Children First Act. It is important we do not stop there but remain constantly in the space of being proactive. In that respect, I am intent on ensuring there will be an expert-driven non-statutory safeguarding exercise that will identity the learnings from the commission's findings. We are already seeking an appropriate individual or individuals to conduct that work.
I appreciate the steps the Minister has taken and the work that will be undertaken on the back of the report specific to this case, and rightly so, as that needs to be done, but I also want to impress on the Minister the need to look at the care system today. The Children's Residential and Aftercare Voluntary Association has repeatedly called for a review of Ireland's care system. It has raised repeatedly the increase in unregistered and uninspected for-profit providers in the system. The Child Law Project has raised issues relating to the care system and judges have, at various points in time, raised issues and voiced despair at the system. While it is important we see steps taken on the back of this report, I also ask the Minister to look at the care system today.
Safeguarding is everybody's responsibility and should be everybody's business. I am committed to working with the HSE and Tusla to ensure there is a focus on continually enhancing the approach to safeguarding across all services. We are conscious of the obligations on us as individuals, whether working in the field of education, sport or whatever. When we deal with young people, we are all mandated persons and there is a process that needs to be followed.
There is a body of work under way on adult safeguarding, which has also been raised. The HSE has introduced a national policy on safeguarding vulnerable persons at risk of abuse and has established a national safeguarding office and safeguarding protection teams. For the first time, the HSE has appointed a chief social worker, which is an important step forward. An issue has been raised around developing a new policy in adult safeguarding. That is under way by the Department of Health and should be coming before us shortly.
84. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the national childcare website does not list fees for childcare providers for the year 2021; if her Department will rectify this as matter of urgency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21091/25]
Is the Minister aware the national childcare website does not list fees for childcare providers for the year 2021, the key year against which fees are benchmarked for core funding? Will the Department rectify this as a matter of urgency? The Labour Party has submitted at least four parliamentary questions over the past year but the Minister and the previous Minister have failed to provide an answer.
Thanks very much, Deputy. I am aware the childcare search on the Hive website does not currently contain fees listed for services for the programme year 2021 to 2022. The portal was originally designed to contain information for the current programme year only. In addition to service fee lists, the following information is available on the portal: contact details for services; whether services are private, community or childminding services; a services calendar, which provides details of services' operating hours per week and the number of weeks operating per year; whether the service offers the early childhood care and education programme or the national childcare scheme; and whether it is taking part in the core funding scheme.
The portal was recently upgraded to provide fee lists for the previous programme year, 2023 to 2024. There is no scope to provide historical fees lists on the portal in the short term owing to competing ICT demands. However, officials at the Department are working on an interim solution in order to make the 2021-22 fees list available through the city and county childcare committees. The list of services that have been approved to increase their fees through the fee increases assessment process will also be published. I anticipated the fee lists will be available through the network of childcare committees in the coming weeks. I know that is not what the Deputy asked for, but it is the mechanism available to us in the interim.
In the meantime, parents can contact the parent support centre by phone or by completing a contact form on the website to ask about year-on-year comparison of fee lists for their individual early learning and childcare service. Parents can also contact their local city and county childcare committees. Childcare committees support parents and guardians to understand their early learning and childcare options and keep an updated directory of early learning and childcare services in their local areas. They can also provide information and support in relation to fees.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. The Minister will appreciate the Labour Party has frequently asked her and the previous Minister about this in parliamentary questions and parents have been told to go to their local childcare committees for historic fees, go to the national childcare website or contact the NCS directly for the fees. Parents have already gone down those three routes to access fees.
A response to a parliamentary question from my party leader, Ivana Bacik, on 29 September 2024 stated the Department would endeavour to have these fees publicly available as soon as possible. A timeframe on the short term and long term would be gratefully appreciated. There is no opportunity for somebody who had a child in preschool in 2021 to understand whether that childcare facility is now charging more or charging less.
There is nothing to base it on.
I acknowledge the manner in which the Deputy and his party leader have followed this through. What I can say is that the portal was recently upgraded and it now includes fee lists for the previous programme year of 2023 to 2024. There is an issue at present - there is no point in saying there is not - in terms of the capacity of the Hive website to go further back. To ameliorate that or make recompense, the officials are currently working to ensure that the 2021-22 fees list will be available. I am told it will be available in the coming weeks and that is the best commitment I can give. I am happy to revert to the Deputy and discuss this with him again in a few weeks if it is not made available to him. That is the situation as it stands.
Enormous money has gone into the whole issue of childcare. Of that, there is no doubt. Just short of €1 billion has gone into core funding and there has been significant improvement. It is important that parents have access to information on what the fees were in 2021 to 2022. As I said, that will be available through the childcare committee.
I appreciate that. It would be great if the Minister could clarify the position. We have the figures for 2021, although the website might not be working to its full capacity because it is a brand new website and, as the Minister said, it has been designed for the current 2023-24 price for childcare. Do we have the figures for the childcare facilities of 2021? Once the website is fixed, will the figures be available to put up on the website? Are we still looking for the figures or are they available to the Department? The Minister will appreciate that new parents entering the system are presented with a table of fees by the service provider without any context as to whether those fees match what was being charged in 2021.
The officials are working on the solution and the 2021-22 fees list will be made available through the county and city childcare committees. Also published will be the list of services that have been approved to increase their fees through the fee increase assessment process. It is the Department's best estimate currently that this will be available in the coming weeks. I am happy to engage with the Deputy.
I know this is important information for parents. I know there is an absolute acknowledgement that considerable work has been achieved in this space. There has been significant money in core funding, with €331 million for this year alone, which will rise to €350 million. The purpose of core funding is to ensure reduced costs for parents but also that there is support for providers. That information should be available in the coming weeks.
85. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of vacant-unfilled positions across each CDNT in the State; if she will provide the figures from the CDNT workforce report, carried out in October 2024; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21200/25]
I am looking for the figures on unfilled positions within each CDNT in the State. Obviously, we had the workforce report from last October and that has since been published. The big question concerns the numbers that were outstanding. At one time, it was almost 530 positions. Even if those positions are filled, are we able to provide the service that is required through the CDNT system?
A children’s disability network team workforce survey was conducted on 16 October 2024. This survey captured staffing levels across various disciplines and grades, providing a snapshot of the current workforce across the 93 CDNTs. While this report only provides us with a snapshot in time, with recruitment having continued in the interim, it is the most comprehensive workforce report we have on CDNTs.
The report was published on the HSE website earlier this year and is available to download. It indicated a wide disparity in the number of vacant and unfilled positions across the country, with the highest number in the Dublin and south east region at 144 unfilled whole-time equivalents. The number of vacancies in the Dublin and north east region, which was 125 whole-time equivalents, and the Dublin and midlands region, which was 112 whole-time equivalents, is also high. There were 65 unfilled WTEs in the south west region, 56 in the west and north west region and 26 in the mid-west region as of mid-October.
The HSE is currently using the data from this report to support focused recruitment and retention initiatives in the areas with the highest vacancy rates, taking learning and related actions from areas with lower levels of vacancies. The HSE has also advised that a survey for another CDNT workforce report is being undertaken and it expects the data to be available for that in the coming months.
It is important to acknowledge the progress that has been made in recent years regarding CDNT recruitment. The October data indicates that the CDNT workforce increased by 17% in 2024 when compared with the 2023 figure. This represents an additional 272 whole-time equivalent staff working across CDNTs. Within those on-boarded, the largest growth was in health and social care professionals, accounting for 204 of the 272 staff.
We all welcome increased recruitment but the fact is that whatever the figures say, we have all been inundated with requests from parents who cannot get assessments or therapies for their children. We all know the issue. We have all had an over-and-back in regard to the fact school-based therapies could deal with some of this issue. However, if we look at the recruitment levels on the basis of how this happened last year, it would take at least two years at the same speed to fill the gaps and achieve a complete workforce. Again, that is only on the basis of the numbers that are set out at present. Given there will constantly be a need for these reports, we need to see real movement in this regard. Can the Minister give any sort of timeline for when those positions will be filled? Beyond that, if those positions are filled, will we be able to provide the correct service in regard to assessments of need and therapies for those children with autism and their parents?
Significantly, the CDNT vacancy rate has reduced from 29% in 2023 to 22% in 2024, a reduction of 7% nationally. The Deputy is correct regarding recruitment and retention. A lot of work is happening in that space. In order to achieve the staffing level improvements seen in 2024 and fill those vacancies, there were intensive domestic and international recruitment efforts across the HSE and section 38 and 39 organisations to recruit and onboard staff. Recruitment efforts are being bolstered by optimising access to applicant pools through the opening up of HSE panels, HSE advertising streams and candidate pools, and also training places in higher education institutes, which have increased the number of clinical placements in children’s disability network teams. That serves to improve the recruitment of health and social care professionals into the CDNT teams. In addition, the HSE career hub has more than 38 registered applicants.
We all know the issues with regard to recruitment and retention but we also know the absolute need that is out there and the abject failure there has been for many years, which continues at this point in time. Everyone would say it is beyond doubt that we need to engage in domestic and international initiatives, and we should be looking at every sort of pipeline to ensure we can get as many highly trained OTs, SLTs, psychologists and other specialists as possible. This would ensure we could deliver everything from assessments, even if at times it meant we had to look at the method by which we carried out assessments, right through the system to provide fit-for-purpose therapies.
However, there is a particular issue as to how we deliver this. I will ask the question again: if we fill all of these positions, will we be able to offer the service that we need to offer on the basis of the need? We need to get real about school-based therapies. Has there been much engagement with the Minister for Education on delivering something across the board that is fit for purpose?
I will start with the last part of the question. We are working on a national disability strategy, which will be published before the summer recess. A high level of engagement is happening right across Government with my Cabinet colleagues, including the Minister, Deputy Foley, the Minister for Education, the Minister for Health, the Minister for Social Protection and the Minister for Transport. When talking about disability, it affects every single Department and the ambition will be high within that strategy. I want to say that at the outset.
Recruitment and retention is only part of it. The Deputy talked about therapists in schools, having them in our special schools and rolling that out to special classes in mainstream schools as part of the solution. We will also need to up recruitment at a domestic level. Looking at other things, in respect of higher education, as I said, an extra 150 therapists have been going through our third level system since last September. We are also looking at outreach to secondary schools and other ways we can upskill people from other disciplines.
86. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for an update regarding the way in which she has initiated the lowering of the cost of childcare in the State since she took office as Minister; and the steps she has taken for broader reform of the childcare model. [21093/25]
The programme for Government outlines an ambitious plan to progressively reduce the cost of childcare to €200 per month, and commits to a review and increase of core funding, a reduction in the administrative burden on providers, capital investment to build State-owned childcare facilities and so much more. What steps has the Minister taken to progress these actions? Will she outline what plans are currently in motion?
The Deputy is correct. The Government has made a significant commitment to improve accessibility, availability, affordability and the quality of early learning and childcare provision. Investment in early learning and childcare is now at an unprecedented level with public funding exceeding €1.37 billion in 2025, clearly demonstrating the Government’s commitment to this area.
The programme for Government provides the impetus to go much further and to deliver much more high-quality early learning and childcare places at a cost that is affordable to families. I am committed to establishing a €200 per child per month cap on early learning and childcare costs for families within the lifetime of the Government. This work will build on the significant measures taken to date to improve affordability. The early childhood care and education programme provides two years of preschool without charge and enjoys a participation rate of 96% each year. The national childcare scheme is now worth a minimum of €96.20 per child per week for 45 hours.
This Government is also committed to providing capital investment to build or purchase State-owned early learning and childcare facilities to create additional capacity in areas where unmet need exists. This would mark a very substantial and significant shift in the policy direction that the Department has pursued thus far. A forward-planning model is now in development which will be central to the Department's plans to achieve the policy goals to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early learning and childcare system, with State-led facilities adding capacity. Officials are currently developing a mapping tool, using administrative data on schemes and population location, to identify areas where supply and demand mismatches are greatest. A recent Ipsos poll to parents will also help inform future planning. This will enable the State to step in where it is necessary.
As the Deputy will appreciate, we are at the very early stages of the programme for Government but work is under way.
I thank the Minister for her reply. The Social Democrats believe that solving the systemic problems facing the childcare sector in Ireland will not happen by doing more of the same. A triple threat is facing the sector. We cannot ignore that any longer. A dearth of places faces children and young people. There is a real capacity issue in many counties. There is also a lack of affordability for parents. The third key piece is very much the issue of compensation and benefits for a sector that is providing such a crucial component and role for our society - we are seeing a recruitment and retention crisis play out before our eyes.
The 2021 partnership for the public good report acknowledged that early years and childcare is a public good, yet we continue to rely solely on the private market to meet that public good. Does the Minister agree that the State cannot continue to rely solely on the private sector to address these problems?
I agree with much of what the Deputy said. It is much of Government policy insofar as the key elements of that policy are, in the first instance, to manage and reduce costs for parents, which is a key anchor, and, second, to ensure sustainability of the service is being provided and that providers are sustainable in moving forward. A further element is to increase provision of places and to ensure we have a workforce that is properly recompensed for the work it does in this area.
On affordability for parents, and I referenced this, significant core funding of almost €1 billion by the Government has gone into ensuring that money is in place to ensure reduced costs for parents. In addition, the national childcare scheme has undergone a number of enhancements, which include the extension of the universal subsidy to all children under 15. There have been two increases to the minimum-----
Thank you, Minister.
The scale of what the Government is proposing, and what parents are demanding and what the sector deserves, is very significant. To see that type of growth and investment requires strategic cross-party thinking on this. I wrote to the Minister a couple of weeks ago proposing that we establish a special select time-bound committee, páistecare, which would perform a similar role to and take an approach like that of Sláintecare, to spell out the vision for the future of childcare and early education in Ireland. There is real merit to that in the context of what is going on from the Government side and the cross-party ideas about it. It would be an opportunity to listen to the sector and the key stakeholders and to report back on the future of childcare, certainly with regard to public provision. I again call on the Minister to take the opportunity for implementation of a committee like this. We could all see the benefits of that in the long run.
I will be clear. I am very happy to engage with the Deputy on this. I engage on an ongoing basis with stakeholders on whatever body of work needs to be done. He is right. We are unanimous in our acknowledgement across every sector within this Chamber that a job of work needs to be done and must continue to be done in this sector. However, while significant progress has been made, more progress needs to be made. Specifically, for example, and the Deputy referenced this, we must ensure workers in this area are appropriately remunerated. A sum of €45 million has been ring-fenced for that purpose this year to ensure that providers can continue and €350 million will be made available to them through core funding in the next tranche of funding. Equally, where there are gaps, it is appropriate that the Government steps in and makes provision for places being made available, whether these are State-run or whatever way they will be run. A forward-planning model is already up and running in the Department and there is a budgetary consideration around the €200 per month.
87. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to provide an update on ongoing pay talks for early years educators. [21194/25]
I ask for an update on the ongoing talks on pay, particularly regarding the €45 million announced in budget 2025 that will be ring-fenced for pay for our early years educators.
As the State is not the employer of staff in this sector, neither I nor the Department can set pay or determine working conditions. The joint labour committee is the formal mechanism established by which employer and employee representatives can negotiate minimum pay rates, which are set down in employment regulation orders. I absolutely acknowledge the joint labour committee is independent in its functions and I do not have a role in its statutory negotiation process.
However, outcomes from the joint labour committee process are supported by Government through core funding, which in the programme year 2025-26 will increase to €350 million. An additional €45 million, as the Deputy referenced, has been ring-fenced to support employers to meet the costs of further increases to the minimum rates of pay and is contingent on updated employment regulation orders. Core funding forms part of a significant State investment of €1.37 billion in funding under budget 2025 for early learning and childcare.
I recently met with joint labour committee representatives to acknowledge the committee's important role, to outline the Government’s continued support for the sector as a whole and, as outlined in the programme for Government, for the joint labour committee process. I outlined to representatives that Government expects the funding secured - the €45 million - will support the costs of increased minimum pay rates and will be used for the purpose for which it is given in any new employment regulation orders, and that the full amount will be utilised.
Data available to the Department shows previous employment regulation orders do not absorb the available core funding signalled for staff pay and graduate leaders. The level of pay for staff in the sector does not reflect the value of their work for children, families, society and the economy. Therefore, it is vitally important that the committee engages in productive negotiations about ensuring the high level of investment being made through core funding for improved pay is maximised. I look forward to the joint labour committee negotiated outcomes.
This is an issue I have raised on a number of occasions with the Minister. I welcome the fact she has met and engaged with the JLC and that she has gone further than that in asking it to utilise the €45 million because it is key we improve pay for the early years educators.
We know staff turnover in the early years sector is really high. I got a breakdown, county by county. The annual turnover in private providers is up on 54% in some counties. That is good early years educators leaving the sector. It means more waiting lists for children trying to get places. It means more rooms closed in childcare facilities at a time when there is so much demand.
If we do not get pay right for early years educators, we will not have the necessary number of childcare facilities we desperately need. I welcome the Minister's move in that regard and we should take the opportunity to call on them for the talks to conclude and for that full amount to be-----
Thank you, Deputy. Minister?
I acknowledge this is a personal interest of Deputy Kerrane because she has raised it on many occasions. It is my absolute determination that €45 million is being made available and it is my absolute wish that that €45 million is used fully, totally and wholly for the purpose for which it is given.
I would always say, irrespective of whether I am inside the House or outside, that if we do not have a workforce and if they do not feel that they are appropriately remunerated and valued, they will go elsewhere. It is really important. That is obviously to the benefit of providers who are providing the service, it is to the benefit of parents but, most of all, it is to the benefit of the children who are in their care. I am clear about that €45 million and how I would like to see it being utilised.
I am equally clear that providers need resourcing. As I have said, €350 million in core funding is being made available this year. Work is also under way in terms of minimising the administrative burden that providers speak about. There is a body of work under way.
The Minister will be aware SIPTU is raising concerns about the fact the talks have been ongoing for a number of months and it feels there is a gap between the providers and those representing the early years educators and managers in the childcare settings. It is really important. It is good we have had the opportunity here this evening to make that call and to ask for the joint labour committee to complete its work in order that the €45 million would be utilised because we need it at a time when early years educators are leaving the sector and we desperately need them.
I have given this example on many occasions because I have little faith in the committee in terms of its establishment and relying on it for pay on an issue of such importance. We know the last pay increase was 65 cent. It took 15 months to negotiate 65 cent, so I have concerns about the mechanism.
On the core funding which the Minister has referenced, there is a review promised in the programme for Government. Has the Minister any idea when that will come to pass?
I want to be clear that I absolutely respect the independence of the joint labour committee. It is important it would do its work and that it would have that independence, but I am acknowledging there is that €45 million available and it is my view it should go for the purpose of salaries.
The Deputy referenced the previous EROs and what occurred there. I acknowledge that the setting of minimum rates of pay in the previous two EROs was not a product of the joint labour committee negotiation process but as a consequence of the Labour Court setting the rate, and the Labour Court does not have to take into account the money that is made available to support the sector.
While we are focusing here on salaries, there is a broader piece of work being done on the entire service.
88. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth her views on the €45 million allocated under budget 2025 to support further increases to the minimum rates of pay in the childcare sector. [20553/25]
What are the Minister's views on the €45 million allocated under budget 2025 to support further increases to the minimum rates of pay in the childcare sector, a measure which will ensure providers can continue and improve the pay for staff of the childcare providers?
I thank the Deputy and I appreciate the question. The Deputy has engaged with me on an ongoing basis on this.
As I have stated previously, the State is not the employer of staff in the sector and neither I nor the Department can set their pay or determine working conditions. The joint labour committee is the formal mechanism established by which employer and employee representatives can negotiate minimum pay rates set down in employment regulation orders.
As I have said previously, I acknowledge that the joint labour committee is wholly independent in its functions and I do not have a role in its statutory negotiation process. Outcomes from the joint labour committee process are supported by Government through core funding, which will increase to €350 million in the programme year 2025-26. As the Deputy has referenced, an additional €45 million has been ring-fenced to support employers to meet the costs of further increases to the minimum rates of pay and is contingent on updated employment regulation orders.
As I have already said, I met recently with joint labour committee representatives to acknowledge the committee's important role and work and to outline the Government’s continued support for the sector as a whole and for the entire joint labour committee process, as outlined in the programme for Government. As I have reiterated, I outlined to representatives that the Government expects that the funding secured to support the costs of increased minimum pay rates to be used for its intended purpose - that is the absolute clarity: the money is ring-fenced and it should be used for the intended purpose - and that any new employment regulation orders would utilise the amount in its entirety. Data available to the Department shows previous employment regulation orders have not absorbed the available core funding signalled for staff pay and graduate leaders. The level of pay for staff in the sector does not reflect the value of the work being done by the employees for children, families, society and the economy. It is hugely important, therefore, that the committee engage in productive negotiations to ensure the high level of investment being made through core funding for improved pay is maximised. I look forward to the outcome of the joint labour committee.
I appreciate the Minister's comments and her clarification and confirmation that the money is ring-fenced.
Does the Minister agree that for children to achieve their full potential, they need opportunities for care and education, that key to ensuring the availability of these opportunities is the retention of qualified staff and early educators in the childcare sector, and key to this is increased rates of pay for the staff? Reports of the talks on the employment regulation order, which is necessary to implement the increased rates of pay, having stalled are concerning, both for those employed within the sector and, in particular, for parents, many of whom I have met in recent weeks in my constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny. I encourage the Minister to do everything she can to support every stakeholder to reach an agreement and to ensure the €45 million allocated under budget 2025 is used in full for its intended purpose, which, as the Minister said, is to support the costs of increased pay rates.
I absolutely agree with the Deputy. It is to everyone's benefit, most especially the children, that we have suitably remunerated and qualified staff. That is the purpose of specifically ring-fencing the funding this year. As I have already said, it is my absolute desire that it would be used in full for that purpose.
I also acknowledge that there is significant work under way to support those who might wish to enhance their qualifications through the nurture skills programme, where opportunities are being given for 90% of the costs to be covered for those who might wish to move forward towards a level 7 or level 8 qualification. That is being piloted, there has been a great uptake on it and we look forward to another successful year of it this year.
I also acknowledge, specifically in terms of retention, that the early learning and childcare stakeholder forum now has a subgroup on recruitment and retention looking at a variety of issues, chief among them, of course, the issue of pay, but also other issues that would provide supports right across the sector.
What impact does the Minister foresee if her Department is prevented from passing on the pay increase to childcare staff? I know the money is ring-fenced but if the Minister is not in a position to do it, what impact would that have? More importantly, would it be unlikely that future budgets would provide for pay increases in the sector? The provision of €45 million in 2025 is fantastic, but if we cannot get that allocated, what impact will that have on future budgets?
To ensure every child has the best possible start in life, we must guarantee the availability of affordable, accessible childcare to all families. I hear this week in, week out. I welcome the Minister's earlier comment that the ambition is to have a cap of €200 per month on childcare for all families.
That is very welcome. Implementation of the increased pay rates is essential for building capacity in the sector. We need that €45 million to be allocated to support further increases to the minimum rates of pay for the childcare sector.
I agree with the Deputy; I believe there is unanimity here regarding the €45 million and how it should be spent in full. If the joint labour committee is unable to agree on a new employment regulation order for the start of the 2025-26 year, the ring-fenced €45 million will not be made available at the start of the year either. That is the purpose of it. I am hopeful and it is my wish that everything will be done in advance of the 2025-26 year. Obviously, it is a win-win situation for everyone if the children are being cared for by those who are suitably recompensed and have the qualifications that are required. It is looking after the children, the parents and the providers. Every year since core funding was introduced, we have seen an increase in the number of those who are in this market now. We are also in a process, as I mentioned earlier, where there is a lack of availability. A body of work is being done there to allow the State to step in where necessary.
