The Government is committed to delivering on its programme for government to support the implementation of Employment Regulation Orders to attract and retain early years educators.
Pay is one of a number of challenges impacting the early learning and care and school-age childcare workforce. The level of pay for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners does not reflect the value of their work for children, families, society and the economy.
Although the Government is the primary funder of the sector, it is not the employer and cannot directly set wages or conditions for any staff in the sector.
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, and is independent in its functions.
Outcomes from the Joint Labour Committee process are supported by Government through Core Funding.
In year 1 of core funding €259 million in Core Funding was allocated of which €210.8 million was new funding to the sector. It is estimated that €207 million supported service provider to meet, among a number of objectives, the pay costs that were set in the first Employment Regulation Order.
Funding was increased in Year 2 by 11% to €287 million with an additional increase of 15% to €331 million in Year 3. In year 4 of the scheme, and to better support providers with specific pay costs that arise from the Joint Labour committee process, €45 million was ring-fenced for the full programme year. The combined allocation of €395.6 million represents a 20% increase in total funding. Core Funding allocations are set out in the table below.
|
Element of Core Funding
|
Year 1
|
Year 2
|
Year 3
|
Year 4
|
|
Element of Core Funding
|
Year 1
|
Year 2
|
Year 3
|
Year 4
|
|
|
2022/2023
|
2023/2024
|
2024/2025
|
2025/2026
|
|
Base Rate
|
€212m
|
€227.3m
|
€263m
|
€280.2m
|
|
Graduate Premiums
|
€47m
|
€52.5m
|
€59m
|
€61m
|
|
Targeted Measures
|
n/a
|
€7.2m
|
€9.3m
|
€9.4m
|
|
TOTAL ALLOCATION
|
€259m
|
€287m
|
€331m
|
€350.6m
|
|
Ringfenced funding
|
|
|
|
€45m
|
|
Allocation for Year 4 including ringfenced funding
|
|
|
|
€395.6m
|
|
Waterford Allocation
|
€5,393,312
|
€6,049,225
|
€6,780,988
|
€7,984,568
|
Over the four year period, the Waterford allocation of Core Funding increased by 48% from €5.39 million to €7.98 million.
The most recent Annual Early Years Sector Profile reports an estimated 8% increase in those working with children in the sector between 2024 and 2025, while the national average turnover rate has fallen by 1.3% over the same period.
The Central Statistics Office report on Early Learning Care Graduate Outcomes that was released in December 2025 examined outcomes for the 2022 graduates. The report notes that 73% of 2022 graduates found employment in the Early Learning and Care Sector. This has increased from 55% for 2013 graduates.
I do acknowledge that many early learning and care and school-age childcare services report staffing challenges in relation to recruitment and retention but the data available to the Department does show over all positive trends .
