2863. Deputy Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she is aware of persistent room closures (details supplied) by a childcare provider due to staffing shortages; if her Department has analysed the reasons behind these closures and if other providers have implemented similar closures; the implications of same for receipt of core funding; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60502/26]

The minimum adult-to-child ratios for pre-school services are set out in Schedule 6 of the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016. School age services' adult-to-child ratios are set out in Regulation 9 of the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) (Registration of School Age Services) Regulations 2018. The ratios are the minimum number of adults required to supervise, care for and work directly with the children in the service.

In setting regulatory requirements for early learning and care and school-age childcare services, the primary consideration must be children’s health, safety and well-being and services must meet the statutory requirements.

To become a Partner Service and receive Core Funding grant allocations, an approved provider must first sign the Agreement for the provision of Core Funding and comply with its terms and conditions. These include the need to ensure that staff to child ratios are maintained and that capacity is genuinely available to parents.

For the purpose of Core Funding a service must be open for at least 3 days for that week to be considered an operating week. Partner Services must update their Application Module and Service Profile data, which are used to generate Core Funding allocations, to reflect changes to their “Operating Weeks per Year”.

If a Partner Service is not open and available to children for at least 3 days of a week, and this week is included in their Application Module and Service Profile, this must be updated. Failure to update information, where applicable, in respect to “Operating Weeks per Year” at service or room level may result in funding inaccuracies, overpayments, recoupments, compliance findings, or delays in future payments.

In addition, through the Agreement the Partner Service agrees that if the amount of service offered is decreased, the Fee Charged must also decrease by at least the same proportion. Any such decrease in service offering and Fees must occur at the same time.

If someone has concerns about a potential breach of Core Funding fee management conditions by a Partner Service, which has occurred during the 2025/2026 Programme Year, they may seek to have this examined and a conclusion reached through the Core Funding Fee Review Process.

If there is a possibility of a potential breach, the City/County Childcare Committee can, with the permission of the individual, assist with initiating the Fee Review Process.

I do acknowledge that many early learning and care and school-age childcare services report staffing challenges in relation to recruitment and retention. In a very competitive labour market and with low levels of unemployment, recruitment and retention is a challenge for all employers.

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.

Pay and conditions are improving. Through the work of the JLC and successive ERO’s, minimum pay rates have now risen three times in four years, delivering an average 15% increase in minimum rates of pay. This marks significant progress in professionalising the workforce. The latest ERO came into effect in October 2025 which saw an increase in minimum pay rates of, on average, 10% with an estimated increase in pay for over 67% of staff in the sector.

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 services in meeting the increased cost of minimum pay rates in the sector.

For programme year 2026/2027, I recently announced that Core Funding will be increased by 23% to €480 million with up to €45 million ringfenced from September 2026 to support services in meeting the potential costs of increasing rates of pay, contingent upon new ERO’s being enacted following successful negotiations by the independent JLC.

The Department continues to support the Joint Labour Committee and the negotiation process by fulfilling data requests which it has received from the JLC members.

A longer-term workforce strategy for the sector is in place: "Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare, 2022-2028".

Nurturing Skills aims to strengthen the ongoing process of professionalisation for those working in the sector.

Data from the current Annual Early Years Sector Profile shows some positive trends with the number of educators/practitioners working with children in the sector has increased by over 8% between 2024 and 2025 and has increased by over 33% since 2022 while the national average turnover rate has fallen by 1.3% to 24.5% in 2025.