Emer Currie
Question:859. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of childminders who are part of the national childcare scheme, broken down by county. [14214/26]
View answerTuesday, 24 February 2026
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All paid, non-relative childminders who work in their own homes can now register with Tusla and access the National Childcare Scheme. The National Action Plan for Childminding 2021-2028 set out a pathway for the extension of registration to childminders. A key objective of the National Action Plan for Childminding is to enable parents who use childminders to also benefit from State subsidies through the National Childcare Scheme. The Childcare Support Act 2018, which provides the statutory basis for the National Childcare Scheme, specifies that the Scheme is only open to Tusla-registered providers. This ensures that public funding is provided there is assurance of the quality of provision. Therefore, only childminders who are registered with Tusla can offer the National Childcare Scheme to the families that avail of their services.
As of end-December 2025, 158 childminders were registered with Tusla. The number of childminders in contract for the National Childcare Scheme for the current programme year to date is 123. The table below provides a breakdown of that number by county.