Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 February 2026
908. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the cost of increasing the estimated first-year, full-year and annual cost of increasing the current minimum rate of pay for early years educators by €0.50, €1, and €1.50; and the first-year, full-year and annual estimated cost to increase all other grades covered by the early years employment regulation order by the same amounts. [15056/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAlthough the Government is the primary funder of the sector, it is not the employer and cannot directly set wages or 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, and is independent in its functions.
Outcomes from the Joint Labour Committee process are supported by Government through Core Funding. In this programme year 2025/26 Core Funding has increased by 6% to approximately €350 million with an additional €45 million in ring-fenced Core Funding provided to support early learning and care services in meeting the increased cost of minimum pay rates in the sector.
I recently announced, as part of launch of Shaping the Future: Early Years Action Plan in December, another allocation of up to €15m of ring-fenced funding from September 2026, which amounts up to €45m for the full programme year, to support service providers with costs associated with possible increases in minimum rates of pay negotiated via the independent Joint Labour Committee process. Consequently, over 2 years, the Department has made an allocation of €90 million available to support possible increased rates of pay.
Based on the data available, a full year cost view provides the most accurate estimate of the impact to the employer of the proposed hourly wage increases set out in your question.
The estimated full year costs of increasing the current minimum rate of pay for early years educators and all other grades covered by the Early Years Orders which took effect on October 13th 2025 has been calculated based on the pay rates and working hours supplied by Partner Services in the Core Funding scheme in January 2026.
Included in this calculation are staff who are in receipt of funding or partial funding through other government schemes such as AIM, Equal Start, Community employment Scheme, TUS, etc.
The cost increase also includes a multiplier to account for employer contributions (to reflect PRSI, Pension enrolment, holiday, and sick pay) and an extrapolation rate associated with the response rate for the dataset is applied to represent the whole sector cost increase.
An estimated sector growth rate of 3.5% has been applied.
The table below shows the full year total cost to employers of increasing the current minimum rate of pay for each role level covered by the Early Years Employment Regulation Orders S.I. No 477/2025 and S.I. No. 478/2025
|
Main Role |
Total Cost 50c |
Total Cost €1 |
Total Cost €1.50 |
|
Educator |
€9,334,841 |
€20,803,068 |
€36,051,733 |
|
Lead Educator |
€2,408,739 |
€5,253,581 |
€8,510,193 |
|
Graduate Lead Educator |
€5,955,098 |
€12,965,965 |
€20,400,305 |
|
Deputy Manager |
€622,295 |
€1,353,510 |
€2,227,367 |
|
Manager |
€1,073,596 |
€2,205,395 |
€3,646,579 |
|
Graduate Manager |
€1,501,184 |
€3,125,566 |
€4,865,645 |
|
Total |
€20,895,753 |
€45,707,085 |
€75,701,822 |
Assumptions
• The cost estimates are based on staff who had an hourly wage recorded in service providers’ submissions for Core Funding on January 6th 2026, but the Core Funding data has been extrapolated to provide an estimate for all staff working in the sector.
• Cost estimates are based on the most recent data available to the Department which was provided by service providers in January 2026.
• Calculations are based on minimum rates of pay set out in the Early Years ERO’s which came into effect in October 2025
• The estimated costs are for the additional cost to employers of bringing staff, from their current wage or the minimum pay rates set out in the current EROs, whichever is higher, up to the projected rate e.g. for early years educators, costs are estimated based on the current minimum rate of €15.00 plus 50 cents, €1 and €1.50 respectively.
• Staff whose rate of pay is entered below the ERO in the data pull are assigned a rate equal to the new ERO valid at that time.
• Calculations are based on wage-data available at a point in time. Some services may have increased wages more recently, which would reduce the cost to services of moving from current wage-rates to the projected wage rates in the question.
• The cost estimates only relate to staff and managers covered by the current ERO’s, i.e. the estimates exclude the cost of ancillary staff.
• The cost estimates do not attempt to account for the potential cost implications for the wages of staff who are currently earning more than the increased rates above current ERO minimum rates.
