2941. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of Employment Regulation Orders signed between 2020 to date in 2026, to help attract and retain early years educators, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61723/26]

The 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.

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.

In a very competitive labour market and with low levels of unemployment, recruitment and retention is a challenge for all employers.

Although 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 (ERO). The Joint Labour Committee is independent in its functions, and neither I nor the Department have a role in its statutory negotiation processes.

Outcomes from the Joint Labour Committee process are supported by Government through Core Funding.

Since 2022, three sets of Employment Regulation Orders pay increases have been agreed, delivering significant improvements in minimum pay rates across all roles and strengthening pay differentials linked to qualifications and responsibilities.

Following the establishment of the Joint Labour Committee in 2021, the first Employment Regulation Orders came into effect in September 2022 with an estimated 73% of employees benefited from these initial wage improvements.

Further progress was achieved in 2024 when revised Employment Regulation Orders were introduced and it is estimated that 53% of sector employees benefited from these increases.

In 2025, minimum rates had increase again with an estimated 67% of those working in the sector seeing wages rise as a result of the new rates of pay.

Since 2022 minimum rates of pay have, on average, increased by 15%, however administrative data indicates that rates of pay across the sector increased by, on average, approximately 25% between 2022 and 2025.

As committed to in the programme for Government, I will continue to support the implementation of Employment Regulation Orders to attract and retain early years educators.

Increases in Employment Regulation Order rates are set out in tabular form in the tables below.

The table below presents the increase seen from the first Employment Regulation Orders minimum rates introduced in 2022 to the current minimum rates which came into effect in October 2025.