{"id":287967,"date":"2026-02-08T23:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T23:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/287967\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T23:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T23:21:08","slug":"three-creche-operators-initiate-judicial-review-proceedings-over-minimum-pay-levels-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/287967\/","title":{"rendered":"Three creche operators initiate judicial review proceedings over minimum pay levels \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three creche<\/a> operators have initiated judicial review proceedings which could undermine the system established to set minimum pay levels across the entire sector.<\/p>\n

The case taken by the owners of Mary Geary\u2019s Childcare in Cork; Kidology, which runs three facilities \u2013 Dunboyne, Mulhuddart and Castleknock; and Faylinn, in Gorey, is listed for a preliminary hearing on February 23rd.<\/p>\n

Before that, the group is holding three \u201ctown hall\u201d meetings in Dublin, Galway and Cork next week with the hope of attracting support from other operators.<\/p>\n

In a social-media message announcing the proceedings and meetings, the group claims \u201cIrish childcare is at a crossroads\u201d and asks others in the sector whether they are \u201cgoing to stand by and allow your business and lifetime of work be taken from you?\u201d<\/p>\n

They say the meetings will provide operators with \u201ca clear understanding of how Government policy is being delivered in plain sight \u2013 and what it means for your service now and into the future\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cChallenging policy is costly,\u201d they say, before adding: \u201cdoing nothing will cost far more\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about fairness, transparency, accountability and protecting the commercial reality for the whole sector.\u201d <\/p>\n

The group says it is seeking two judicial reviews of the 2025 Employment Regulation Order (ERO). <\/p>\n

This came into effect in mid-October after a protracted process involving representatives of both employers and the more than 30,000 staff in the sector.<\/p>\n

It set the minimum rate of pay for entry-grade staff aged 20 or over at \u20ac15 per hour, with higher minimum rates set for more qualified staff and managers.<\/p>\n

If the group is successful, it would mean the increases to the minimum rates would not be binding on operators.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Facilities for up to 800 new childcare places to be acquired by State in 2026Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

A portion of Government funding is currently contingent on the agreement of the rates in the EROs which are agreed on an annual basis. <\/p>\n

Talks on the 2026 ERO are scheduled to start this month with \u20ac45 million in public money earmarked to help employers fund any increases once they are agreed.<\/p>\n

One of the owners behind the legal action, Conor Ryan of Faylinn, had previously been a member of the Ibec<\/a> delegation during the ERO process.<\/p>\n

None of the owners involved responded to attempts by The Irish Times to contact them.<\/p>\n

In response to questions, the Department of Children<\/a> said it had been made aware of the providers\u2019 intention to seek the judicial review but had not had any confirmation that formal proceedings had been lodged. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Joint Labour Committee [which formulated the ERO] is independent in its functions, and neither the Minister nor the department have a statutory role in its processes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn any event, the department does not and would not comment on legal proceedings within the department or external to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It confirmed all of the services operated by the firms involved in the judicial review had been part of the core funding scheme previously and had received a little over \u20ac1 million between them in 2022-2023. Most of the services had since left the scheme and the two remaining are set to receive about \u20ac325,000 this year. <\/p>\n

Other prominent figures in the sector said they were aware of the move but had little or no detail of the specifics involved. There was some uncertainty expressed regarding how minimum wages might be set in the absence of an annual ERO along with concern regarding the \u20ac45 million if this year\u2019s ERO is not agreed.<\/p>\n

One operator suggested that while public funding is regarded as vital to the sector, there is frustration over the way in which it is administered and the administrative burden it places on managements, especially at smaller, independent services. <\/p>\n

Darragh O\u2019Connor of Siptu<\/a> said, however, the pay deal \u201cunderpins \u20ac480 million of State funding intended to reduce fees for parents and improve pay for educators. A successful challenge could pull this system with devastating consequences for educators, parents and providers.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is widespread agreement that wages are a major issue in the sector which continues to experience huge staff shortages. <\/p>\n

Government funding has helped provide for pay increases in recent years and many operators say they pay significantly above the minimum rates. <\/p>\n

The entry-level pay for an early educator aged at least 20, however, is just 85 cent above the national minimum wage<\/a> of \u20ac14.15 despite the qualifications required and high level of responsibility involved in the work. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three creche operators have initiated judicial review proceedings which could undermine the system established to set minimum pay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,9687,93754,4105,61,60,24984,20167,1962],"class_list":["post-287967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-childcare","tag-department-of-children-disability-and-equality-sponsored","tag-ibec","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-national-minimum-wage","tag-siptu","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}