Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 March 2026
435. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of childcare places that have been available in Cork city and Cork county in each of the past five years, including, if possible, the first three months of 2026. [23510/26]
View answerEach year, Pobal compiles data from Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC) providers as part of the Early Years Sector Profile. Data for the Early Years Sector Profile is typically captured in May/June of each programme year. While ELC and SAC offerings vary across service providers and the allocation of ELC or SAC places is flexible, the published capacity data provides an estimate of the number of children enrolled in ELC and SAC and the percentage of services with at least one vacant place at a given time.
The most recent published capacity data for the 2024/25 programme year estimated that there were 17,025 children enrolled in ELC and SAC services in Cork County. This data also indicated that 43% of services in Cork County had at least one vacant place. In Cork City, there were an estimated 8,617 children enrolled in ELC and SAC services and 40% of services had at least one vacant place. The tables below summarise the data for ELC and SAC enrolments for the 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25 programme years in Cork City and Cork County. In the tables, ELC refers to all children aged zero to four years and non-school going children aged between four and six years. SAC refers to school going children aged between four and six years and all children over six years of age.
Cork County
|
Year |
ELC Estimated enrolments |
% of ELC services with at least one vacant place |
SAC Estimated enrolments |
% of SAC services with at least one vacant place |
|
2024/25 |
11,033 |
39% |
5,991 |
38% |
|
2023/24 |
10,908 |
38% |
6,754 |
42% |
|
2022/23 |
10,279 |
43% |
4,019 |
47% |
|
2021/22 |
10,351 |
56% |
3,386 |
48% |
|
2020/21 |
12,015 |
50% |
3,099 |
52% |
Cork City
|
Year |
ELC Estimated enrolments |
% of ELC services with at least one vacant place |
SAC Estimated enrolments |
% of SAC services with at least one vacant place |
|
2024/25 |
5,805 |
37% |
2,808 |
37% |
|
2023/24 |
5,854 |
36% |
3,317 |
48% |
|
2022/23 |
5,856 |
48% |
1,913 |
49% |
|
2021/22 |
5,869 |
56% |
1,261 |
40% |
|
2020/21 |
3,215 |
63% |
612 |
74% |
Notes: The number of enrolments in some areas during 2020/21 were impacted by Covid-related restrictions.
Further information can be found on the Early Learning and Childcare data website. The Capacity Section of the website provides information on the number of children enrolled, services with vacant places, and services with a waiting list.
