Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 May 2026
215. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department has undertaken costings for additional non-contact time for early years settings under core funding; and if so, the details of any costings undertaken by her Department regarding the cost of non-contact (detail supplied) time for early years educators and school age care settings. [37987/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe role of the early years educator and school-age childcare practitioner are valuable ones, and they play an important part in supporting children's development, learning and care. The Department is fully committed to supporting Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for the Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare Sector.
This commitment to incentivise CPD is further outlined in First 5, A Whole of Government Strategy for Babies, Young People and their Families which commits to improving access to high-quality initial training and CPD opportunities to ensure the staff involved in delivering early childhood supports and services are fully prepared for the demands of their professional roles.
Nurturing Skills, the Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare aims to strengthen the ongoing process of professionalisation for those working in the sector. Pillar 3 of Nurturing Skills centres on the development of a national Continuing Professional Development system for the Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare workforce.
Progress to date has focused on strengthening national Continuing Professional Development infrastructure through the work of Better Start and its Learning and Development Unit, the delivery of Continuing Professional Development supports through the National Síolta Aistear Initiative, the Access and Inclusion Model, and the launch of the Nurturing Skills Learning Hub in May 2025.
In support of the development of CPD in the sector, the Core Funding base rate includes contributions towards staff pay and conditions, including non-contact time. Although the overall allocation for Core Funding factors in this and other elements, it is the responsibility of Partner Services to decide how to spend their Core Funding grant in accordance with approved areas of expenditure outlined in the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement and Rules. Costs of staff/owner participation in CPD including cost of cover for absence due to such participation is an approved area of expenditure.
The Department continues to review cost within the sector and, in the case of CPD, this can be a complex calculation because to the wide variation in the working hours of sector staff due to the non-standard operating times unlike the set school operating hours. However, the cost would base on a set rate per hour, relevant to the Employment Regulation Orders in place at the time, including a proportion for employer costs, such as PRSI, Sick, Holiday, Pension costs etc., multiplied by the number of educators and practitioners, multiplied by the number of hours of CPD.
A simplified example would be €18.15 (current Educator ERO rate +21% for Employer costs) * 34,689 Educators and Practitioners * 8 hours of CPD = approximately €5.05m for a programme year
In addition, Shaping the Future: The Early Years Action Plan Phase 1 notes that, as part of developing phase 2, consideration will be given to mechanisms to support greater participation of staff in CPD as part of a wider effort to strengthen non-contact time, for planning, preparation, recording of observations of children’s development, and engagement with parents.
