Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 September 2025
535. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the total number of children supported by universal childcare subsidies, by county in 2020 to 2024, by year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49793/25]
View answerThe National Childcare Scheme (NCS) provides financial supports to parents to help reduce the cost of early learning and childcare. The Scheme has undergone a number of enhancements in recent years to further improve affordability for parents. These include the extension of the Universal subsidy to all children under 15 and two increases to the minimum hourly subsidy, which is now worth €2.14 per hour.
These enhancements have helped to result in a positive growth in the number of children benefitting from NCS subsidies. In particular, this is demonstrable by the year-on-year growth in the number of unique children benefitting from Universal subsidies.
The number of unique children who benefitted from a Universal subsidy for the specified years, according to county, is detailed in the following table:
|
Service Provider County |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
Carlow |
127 |
194 |
528 |
952 |
1,297 |
|
Cavan |
183 |
317 |
867 |
1,750 |
2,460 |
|
Clare |
288 |
441 |
1,113 |
2,152 |
3,158 |
|
Cork |
1,837 |
2,678 |
6,071 |
11,822 |
15,894 |
|
Donegal |
234 |
416 |
1,095 |
2,657 |
3,564 |
|
Dublin |
6,062 |
8,907 |
18,246 |
32,243 |
40,202 |
|
Galway |
1,009 |
1,488 |
3,949 |
7,945 |
10,314 |
|
Kerry |
286 |
437 |
1,404 |
2,957 |
4,096 |
|
Kildare |
784 |
1,187 |
2,859 |
5,221 |
6,957 |
|
Kilkenny |
250 |
377 |
945 |
1,956 |
2,607 |
|
Laois |
118 |
236 |
696 |
1,647 |
2,240 |
|
Leitrim |
88 |
119 |
374 |
813 |
1,136 |
|
Limerick |
544 |
835 |
2,160 |
4,282 |
5,725 |
|
Longford |
86 |
158 |
381 |
736 |
1,003 |
|
Louth |
215 |
368 |
875 |
1,925 |
2,657 |
|
Mayo |
143 |
320 |
894 |
2,205 |
3,307 |
|
Meath |
585 |
885 |
2,118 |
3,974 |
5,258 |
|
Monaghan |
192 |
307 |
943 |
2,037 |
2,709 |
|
Offaly |
99 |
147 |
375 |
1,011 |
1,528 |
|
Roscommon |
154 |
259 |
704 |
1,403 |
1,915 |
|
Sligo |
167 |
312 |
842 |
1,715 |
2,306 |
|
Tipperary |
435 |
635 |
1,650 |
3,641 |
5,233 |
|
Waterford |
234 |
364 |
941 |
1,985 |
2,647 |
|
Westmeath |
195 |
287 |
820 |
1,908 |
2,530 |
|
Wexford |
305 |
491 |
1,308 |
3,045 |
4,161 |
|
Wicklow |
418 |
612 |
1,505 |
3,071 |
4,125 |
|
Grand Total |
14,979 |
22,581 |
53,337 |
104,192 |
137,936 |
*It should be noted that there may be a difference between the sum of children per county versus the final total. This is because children can have multiple claims in a given calendar year which could be across multiple providers, in multiple counties. However, for the purposes of the 'total', these children have only ben counted once.
