This morning, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs launched a report prepared by her Department on the early years sector. It is a comprehensive survey with responses from almost 4,000 childcare services across the State. Its findings, however, do not paint a pretty picture. The findings in respect of the cost of childcare reinforce the point which was made time and again by my colleague, Deputy Denise Mitchell, particularly in the budget debate where she outlined that the cost of childcare in this State is among the highest in the developed world. That is a massive issue with a wider social and economic impact.

The reality is that the cost of providing childcare amounts to a second mortgage every month for many families. It makes more sense for some of them for one or other parent to opt out of the workforce due to the scandalous costs involved. That simply is not right and cannot continue.

The average cost of childcare, as outlined in the report, is €178 per week or more than €700 per month. In many parts of this State, it costs more than €200 per week in some areas, including in the Tánaiste's city of Cork.

In my county, Donegal, we have seen costs rise year on year at the second highest level across the State, at €15 per week. It is ludicrous that we are seeing those types of increases for hard-pressed families. In addition, the report finds that capacity is decreasing and the number of available spaces in the sector is falling. Separate from this morning's report but crucially linked are the difficulties in the sector and the challenges faced by thousands of childcare workers. It is a sector which, in many cases, pays well below the living wage, which means that we are losing experienced, well-trained childcare workers who are going into other professions. These are skilled, trained workers who are being let down. When we lose them, it means we are losing places and have a lower quality service in the early years, which are crucial for our child's development. We cannot just keep our fingers crossed and hope that this will change. We need to actively work towards fair pay for workers in the sector.

High-quality, affordable childcare is socially and academically beneficial to children. We all know that. It also benefits society and the economy by allowing parents to return to work. We need an early years sector that we can be truly proud of, which we do not have at this point, given the costs and the low pay within the sector. Will the Tánaiste accept that the system is desperately in need of support? Does he accept that there needs to be reform of the universal childcare subsidy with increased investment by the State to help offset the cost to these families? Does he accept we need to see an increase in capitation grants to support providers in delivering quality childcare? Does he accept that there is a need for a sector-wide pay agreement to ensure that every childcare worker in the sector receives, at a minimum, the living wage?

I accept that radical change is needed in the childcare sector for many of the reasons the Deputy has outlined but I also want to say that is exactly what is happening. Over the last four years, we have seen the amount of money available for reforming and changing the childcare sector increase by 117%. The available budget for childcare has gone from €265 million to €574 million over four budgets. The report the Deputy refers to shows that more families than ever are taking up childcare subsidies and supports. More than 200,000 children are now subject to those supports. There has been a 24% increase on the previous year. The families of almost 40,000 children have now benefitted from non-means-tested subsidies introduced last year, worth €1,040 per year.

There are signs, although they are only signs, that childcare costs are stabilising. The cost of full-time childcare has increased by approximately 2% on average over the last year. This compares to an increase of 4% in the previous year. It has halved. We are not there yet. The Taoiseach often talks about this. It is about incremental change as we can afford it. Childcare is arguably the best example of that in government, where we are seeing dramatic change happening over a relatively short period. We now have a ten-year strategy called First 5, which was launched last week. We saw enhanced subsidies introduced last September which have been accessed by more than 84,000 families. By the end of next year, which will mark enormous progress in the childcare sector, we will see the introduction of a new affordable childcare scheme. There will be significant build-up to that. I accept that this is an area where Ireland has not performed well by international and EU standards but those statistics are changing. The affordability of childcare in Ireland is changing and the supports available for families on low incomes are changing quickly. We need to continue down that path.

The Tánaiste is right that it is changing. I will outline what the changes are. In 24 out of 30 areas, the cost for full-time childcare is increasing. In Cork, it increased by €15.29 per week, by €18.70 in Kerry, €15.60 in Donegal, €14.18 in Laois and €14.27 Leitrim. I could go on and outline the other 19 counties where the cost of childcare has increased. The reality is that the measures being introduced by the Government are not keeping pace with the increase in fees being charged to hard-pressed families. That is at a point when we have the highest cost of childcare in the developed world. There needs to be radical action, more support and reform of the universal child credit. The report stipulates clearly that the capacity within the system is not keeping pace with demand. It also makes it clear that because of the issue with low wages in the sector, we are losing high-quality, highly trained people with more academic progression than ever seen before, yet the turnaround in a year is 24% of staff. Unless we deal with this and get our heads out of the sand, we will see more and more pressure not only in the childcare sector but for families. Will the Tánaiste not look at proposals that we have put forward that would cut the cost of childcare in half and ensure that every worker in the sector would, at a minimum, have the living wage?

The only way to measure progress here is to look at trends. We are clearly coming from a difficult place with regard to childcare costs in Ireland. If the Deputy looks at turnover in staff, where people are paid low wages, there has been a decrease of 3.5% in staff turnover in the last year. It is still too high but it is moving in the right direction.

A quarter turnover.

We have seen capitation rates increase over the last two years to try to address that and ensure some of that money is transferred to staff and staff supports. We have seen other measures that complement the changes to childcare, from the initial introduction of one free year of pre-school to now having two free years of pre-school for parents and families; an extension to paternity leave; and two weeks of paid paternity leave. Across multiple areas, we are trying to make childcare more affordable, to make sure that the quality is guaranteed and audited and we are trying to ensure that the working conditions within childcare facilities also improve incrementally. All of that cannot happen overnight but much is happening and we are seeing dramatic increases in the financial resources going into driving that change.

One in four workers leaves the sector.