'It's welcome, but bittersweet': Wages to rise for Cork childcare workers from later this month 

THOUSANDS of early learning and childcare workers are set to see pay increases from later this month, but Cork workers in the sector say that the news is “bittersweet”.

Minister of State for business, employment and retail Emer Higgins yesterday announced that she has accepted proposals for new Employment Regulation Orders (ERO) for the early years services sector.

The orders will see an increase in the minimum hourly rates of pay for various roles in the early years services sector from June 24.

Wages for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners will increase from €13.00 to €13.65, while wages for lead educators (room leaders) and school-age childcare co-ordinators will increase from €14.00 to €14.70.

'Bittersweet'

Julie O’Regan Lynch, who works in an after-school service in Cork, said that it has taken too long to get too small a pay rise.

“It’s welcome, but bittersweet,” she said.

“It’s taken so long to get such a small increase, 5% or 65c an hour, it’s been a hard battle to get such a small amount.

“Providers got an increase in core funding from the government last September, and we’ve had to wait ten months to get anything from it.”

Ms O’Regan Lynch acknowledged that there were issues in the sector for providers too, saying: “No-one denies that there should be more funding for the sector overall, we have one of the lowest rates of government investment in early years, but staff shouldn’t have to wait.

“Our wages can’t keep up with inflation, it’s like we are on a treadmill and everything is moving forward out of our reach.”

Amanda Spiteri, who had to close three after-school services in Cork at the beginning of this year, echoed her sentiments.

“The funding is just not sufficient and staff deserve a better wage, small to medium services are really struggling,” she added.

Introducing the pay increase, Minister O’Gorman said: “Improvement in pay and conditions is essential if we are to recognise the important work that is done every day by those who work in this sector.”

He said he recognised that pay in the sector “still remains relatively low” and that he remained committed to supporting further improvements through core funding which will increase by 15% this year.

Funding for sector 

Elaine Dunne, head of the Federation of Early Childcare Providers, said that they welcome better wages for their staff, but that insufficient funding of services has to be addressed.

She told The Echo that the core funding package for 2023 “has put services out of business, they are closing all over the country.” In Cork, 30 services closed last year.

Ms Dunne said: “I worked on that ERO (Employment Regulation Order), and agree that we have to do something for our workforce, but the biggest issue is that Minister O’Gorman is not addressing the elephant in the room.

“He is continually stating that though some services are closing, new services are opening, but a new large service opening in Dublin and one closing in rural Mayo is not like for like.

“He needs to come into the real world and address this situation, because it’s no good having the ERO in place and not having any services left to ensure parents can go to work and the economy can keep going.”

“As someone who advocates for the rights of workers in the sector, I welcome the ERO with open arms, but the government needs to do something about chronic underfunding and places stuck in a fee freeze.”