Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 April 2026
699. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the position regarding the number of Irish language pre-schools in operation, broken down by county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28527/26]
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.
Since 2023, the Annual Early Years Sector Profile collates information about use of the Irish language in services, categorised by whether services are:
• wholly Irish-medium settings;
• mixed settings where part of the setting is English-medium and part of the setting is Irish-medium;
• English-medium settings with some use of Irish;
• and wholly English-medium settings.
The most recently published data on language medium, from the programme year 2024/25, indicates that 4% of services are a wholly Irish-medium settings, 3% are mixed medium where Irish and English are used, and 33% are English-medium settings with some use of Irish. Data for the programme year 2024/25 are broken down by county in the table below:
|
Year |
Number of services participating in AEYSP |
Wholly Irish-medium settings |
Mixed medium (Irish and English used) |
English-medium settings with some use of Irish
|
Wholly English-medium settings |
|
Carlow |
51 |
2% |
4% |
47% |
47% |
|
Cavan |
77 |
3% |
0% |
23% |
74% |
|
Clare |
134 |
2% |
3% |
43% |
51% |
|
Cork City |
154 |
3% |
3% |
29% |
66% |
|
Cork County |
350 |
4% |
3% |
35% |
58% |
|
Donegal |
157 |
17% |
5% |
43% |
36% |
|
Dublin City |
360 |
2% |
2% |
22% |
75% |
|
Dún-Laoghaire-Rathdown |
159 |
4% |
2% |
28% |
66% |
|
Fingal |
267 |
2% |
2% |
22% |
74% |
|
South Dublin |
191 |
3% |
5% |
17% |
76% |
|
Galway |
267 |
10% |
3% |
39% |
48% |
|
Kerry |
143 |
7% |
8% |
47% |
38% |
|
Kildare |
166 |
4% |
4% |
30% |
63% |
|
Kilkenny |
92 |
1% |
1% |
30% |
67% |
|
Laois |
90 |
0% |
1% |
42% |
57% |
|
Leitrim |
39 |
0% |
8% |
21% |
72% |
|
Limerick |
202 |
2% |
4% |
37% |
57% |
|
Longford |
35 |
0% |
3% |
34% |
63% |
|
Louth |
98 |
3% |
3% |
35% |
59% |
|
Mayo |
127 |
5% |
6% |
35% |
54% |
|
Meath |
171 |
5% |
2% |
35% |
58% |
|
Monaghan |
62 |
3% |
3% |
35% |
58% |
|
Offaly |
61 |
5% |
2% |
41% |
52% |
|
Roscommon |
66 |
0% |
0% |
32% |
68% |
|
Sligo |
74 |
1% |
0% |
30% |
69% |
|
Tipperary |
175 |
2% |
4% |
41% |
53% |
|
Waterford |
90 |
8% |
3% |
36% |
53% |
|
Westmeath |
82 |
1% |
5% |
41% |
52% |
|
Wexford |
139 |
2% |
2% |
35% |
60% |
|
Wicklow |
141 |
1% |
4% |
43% |
52% |
|
National |
4,220 |
4% |
3% |
33% |
60% |
The Department does not currently hold a directory of naíonraí or Irish-medium settings or a directory of children enrolled in Irish-medium settings.
