Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 July 2024
420. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to make strategic investments in early years education (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28705/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraI acknowledge that many early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) services report staffing challenges in relation to recruitment and retention. In general, staffing pressures in the sector are caused not by insufficient supply of qualified personnel, but by high levels of staff turnover. Recruitment challenges may be compounded in Irish-medium settings given the need for staff to have Irish language skills as well as sector qualification requirements.
In line with commitments in First 5, in December 2021, I launched Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for ELC and SAC, 2022-2028. Nurturing Skills aims to strengthen the ongoing process of professionalisation for those working in ELC and SAC and to raise the profile of careers in all parts of the sector. It includes a career framework and commitments to support early years educators to upskill and develop their careers. It also includes commitments to strengthen continuing professional development for staff working in the sector.
I also recently established a sub-group of the Early Learning and Childcare Stakeholder Forum to discuss issues of recruitment and retention with stakeholders in the sector. This group has met on three occasions since December last year and is scheduled to meet again this month.
Furthermore, my Department is working closely with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and the Department of Education to implement a comprehensive set of actions that were agreed as part of the 5 Year Action Plan for the Irish Language 2018-2022. These actions are designed to affirm the importance that ELC and SAC settings have in encouraging the development and revitalisation of the Irish language. The aim of these actions is to build on the existing measures, supports and partnerships in place in the area of Irish-medium early learning and childcare, and to further improve these supports and services.
Inter-Departmental coordination in relation to supports for Irish-medium provision of ELC and SAC, both inside and outside the Gaeltacht, takes place through the National Early Years Oversight Group (established as part of the 5-Year Irish Language Action Plan), which is chaired and coordinated by officials in my Department.
In line with the commitments in the 5-Year Action Plan, the development of a Comprehensive Plan to further the development of Irish language provision in the ELC and SAC sector has commenced. A survey of Irish-medium ELC and SAC settings including childminders was conducted in 2023 to obtain a baseline of the current level of Irish-medium provision in the sector. The survey report, published in October 2023, will complement other research and consultation processes, currently on-going, as well as the work of an Advisory Group which was established to support the drafting of the Comprehensive Plan. It is intended that the Plan will be published later in 2024.
