Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 July 2026
343. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children currently on waiting lists for early learning and childcare places, including children under one, one to two years, two to three years, ECCE age and school-age childcare, by county and age category; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53764/26]
View answerData is not collated in the exact manner requested by the Deputy given the methodology used to collect and estimate the sector level data.
There is no centralised waiting list for Early Learning and Care (ELC) or School-Age Childcare (SAC) services. Each list is managed at service level. As part of the Early Years Sector Profile survey, providers are asked if they operate a waiting list and where applicable, the number of entries on a waiting list for a place for their service. While this data can be used to give an indication of demand, it should not be used as a measure of overall demand for ELC or SAC places as it is vulnerable to overestimating the actual number of children requiring a place. An individual child may be on multiple waiting lists in different services and may remain on one or multiple service lists after taking up a place.
In addition, due to the small number of enrolments among children under one year of age, it is not possible to reliably estimate national or county-level figures for this cohort.
The data most closely aligned to the information requested by the Deputy is summarised below.
Each 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, the percentage of services with at least one vacant place and the percentage of services with a waiting list at a given time.
The most recent published capacity data for the 2024/25 programme year estimated that there were 247,011 children enrolled in ELC and SAC services nationally. This data also indicated that 41% of services had at least one vacant place and 47% were operating a waiting list. Data for the number of enrolments and number of vacant places by age group is summarised in Table 1 below. Data for enrolments, services with vacant places and services operating a waiting list by county is summarised in Table 2.
Table 1. Enrolments and vacant places by age group.
|
Age Group |
Estimated enrolments |
Estimated vacant places |
|
1+ to 2 years |
14,483 |
316 |
|
2+ to 3 years |
25,927 |
2,192 |
|
3+ to 4 years |
56,283 |
5,197 |
|
4+ to 5 years non-school going |
49,054 |
3,859 |
|
5+ to 6 years non-school going |
9,546 |
1,327 |
|
4+ to 5 years school going |
10,457 |
3,061 |
|
5+ to 6 years school going |
22,044 |
3,265 |
|
6+ to 8 years |
27,718 |
3,135 |
|
8+ years |
29,701 |
2,830 |
Table 2. Enrolments, services with vacant places and services with a waiting list by county
|
County |
Estimated Enrolments |
% Services with at least one vacant place |
% Services with a waiting list |
|
Carlow |
2,840 |
42% |
50% |
|
Cavan |
4,817 |
34% |
39% |
|
Clare |
5,833 |
42% |
39% |
|
Cork City |
8,613 |
40% |
42% |
|
Cork County |
17,025 |
43% |
31% |
|
Donegal |
9,208 |
52% |
39% |
|
Dublin - Dublin City |
22,489 |
39% |
61% |
|
Dublin - Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown |
10,684 |
33% |
63% |
|
Dublin - Fingal |
15,451 |
35% |
56% |
|
Dublin - South Dublin |
13,276 |
35% |
59% |
|
Galway |
16,716 |
45% |
45% |
|
Kerry |
8,046 |
46% |
43% |
|
Kildare |
12,087 |
43% |
52% |
|
Kilkenny |
4,876 |
30% |
57% |
|
Laois |
5,211 |
33% |
45% |
|
Leitrim |
2,083 |
50% |
58% |
|
Limerick |
11,005 |
43% |
42% |
|
Longford |
2,131 |
49% |
40% |
|
Louth |
5,817 |
34% |
48% |
|
Mayo |
6,452 |
48% |
27% |
|
Meath |
10,777 |
43% |
42% |
|
Monaghan |
4,794 |
24% |
72% |
|
Offaly |
3,120 |
49% |
36% |
|
Roscommon |
3,279 |
47% |
35% |
|
Sligo |
4,183 |
38% |
56% |
|
Tipperary |
10,206 |
44% |
38% |
|
Waterford |
5,633 |
33% |
42% |
|
Westmeath |
5,185 |
40% |
46% |
|
Wexford |
8,206 |
35% |
49% |
|
Wicklow |
6,968 |
51% |
44% |
|
National |
247,011 |
41% |
47% |
Further information can be found on the Early Learning and Childcare data website: www.pobal.ie/data-library/early-learning-and-childcare-data/
The Capacity Section of the website provides information on the number of children enrolled, services with vacant places, and services with a waiting list.
