Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 December 2025
77. Deputy Brian Brennan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will consider regularising pay and pensions for creche and early years educators on an annualised basis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [73262/25]
View answerThe level of pay and conditions for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners does not reflect the value of their work for children, families, society and the economy. As the State is not the employer of staff in the sector, neither I nor the Department can set wage levels or determine working conditions for staff in the sector.
However, there is a formal mechanism established, through the independent Joint Labour Committee process, by which employer and employee representatives can negotiate terms and conditions of employment including minimum pay rates for different roles in early learning and care and school-age childcare services.
Outcomes from the Joint Labour Committee process are supported by the Government through the Core Funding scheme. The Joint Labour Committee have agreed increases to minimum pay rates three times since 2022 with the support of additional Core Funding investment.
The new Employment Regulation Orders for Early Years Educators and School-Age Practitioners commenced on 13th October 2025. They provide for an average of 10% increase to minimum hourly rates of pay. It is estimated that 67% of those working in the sector will see their wages increase as a result of the new minimum pay rates.
The Government, through €45 million in ring-fenced Core Funding, is supporting early learning and care services in meeting the increased cost of minimum pay rates in the sector. This will bring total Core Funding for services to over €390 million in the 2025/26 programme year.
The Government remains committed to ‘continue to implement Employment Regulation Orders to attract and retain early years educators’ and has made available a further ring-fenced €45 million for the 2026/2027 programme year, to support a possible future round of pay improvements negotiations through the JLC process in 2026.
The Minister for Social Protection has announced that the collection of contributions for the auto-enrolment system, called MyFutureFund, will begin from 1 January 2026.
The base rates in Core Funding have been developed using the various components associated with the cost of delivery of service provision such as; staff pay and conditions, including contact and non-contact time, holiday pay, sick pay and other employer costs such as pension contributions; administrative staff/time and non-staff overhead costs. These components have been factored into the calculation of the budget for Core Funding since the scheme began in 2022.
