“They’re very dedicated and have a passion about the work.”
A trade union organiser is warning that childcare services are under new pressure due to the struggle to find staff.
Following a survey of over 2,000 childcare providers, Siptu found that most of them have vacancies for staff and the recruitment for these positions has negatively affected the services they offer.
Darragh O’Connor, head of strategic organising and campaigns with Siptu, told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the main problem was the pay given.
“Recruitment and retention is a big problem for a majority of services. They’re struggling to hire staff, they’re struggling to keep on the ones that they have. And this having an impact, it means that they’re struggling to keep the staff to child ratio, which is a legal mandate and the minimum that they have to do,” he said.
“It also means that for those who remain in work their workload is increasing as well. And what the survey is saying is that this increases stress, increases the workload and that compounds that. It’s a vicious cycle of recruitment challenges”.
One provider said that it took five rounds of advertising and interviews over the course of 18 weeks before a position was filled.
O’Connor added: “But the main one was the rate of pay – early years educators, managers, they have qualifications, a lot of them have degrees as well. They’re very dedicated and have a passion about the work.
“The minimum rate of pay for an early years’ educator is €13 an hour, and that’s certainly improved over the last couple of years. It’s increased significantly.
“But given that there’s such a huge cost of living increase that’s affecting everybody, it has traditionally been a low paid sector as well that people see they’re able to bring their skills, their qualifications and go into other industries so they can move now to becoming teachers or SNAs, which are quite equivalent professions that they can move into”.
He noted that the recent Government investment in the sector was very much welcomed but does not address all issues in the sector.
O’Connor revealed that childcare services are struggling to maintain their staff to child ratios and many face the risk of closing rooms or restricting their services.
“It’s a concern, but it’s a huge juggling and a huge headache for the managers who are running the services”
