Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 October 2025
386. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children registered for early years and school age childcare for the 2025-2026 programme year; the number which were registered for the previous three programme years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52627/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe number of unique children registered for early years and school age childcare for the 2025/2026 programme year-to-date is as follows:
|
Programme |
Number of Registrations as of 30/09/2025 |
|
ECCE 2025/2026 |
102,364 |
|
CCSP Saver Programme 2025/2026 |
576 |
|
NCS 2025/2026 |
190,878 |
|
Total number of children registered in ELC and SAC childcare |
243,767 |
The number of unique children that were registered for the last three programme years is as follows:
|
Programme |
ELC |
SAC |
Combined |
|
ECCE 2022/2023 |
108,620 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
NCS 2022/2023 |
93,971 |
58,924 |
148,691 |
|
CCSP Saver Programme 2022/2023 |
834 |
3059 |
389 |
|
ECCE 2023/2024 |
106,553 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
NCS 2023/2024 |
110,721 |
84,871 |
185,712 |
|
CCSP Saver Programme 2023/2024 |
233 |
1,847 |
208 |
|
ECCE 2024-2025 |
109,400 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
NCS 2024-2025 |
118,717 |
106,175 |
214,523 |
|
CCSP Saver Programme 2024-2025 |
33 |
1,092 |
112 |
All data contained in this response has been provided by Pobal, the Scheme Administrator of the childcare funding programmes.
Methodology:
This data was extracted from the Data Warehouse by MAOU on the 30th September 2025.
The number of children in receipt of NCS subsidies were defined as the number of unique children with at least one closed and confirmed claim in the programme year (i.e. a claim where attendance returns were submitted by the service provider and with parental confirmation, where applicable) for claims.
The Education stage has been derived from the Education Stage Group where:
• ELC is where the Education Stage Group is Pre-ECCE, ECCE or Early Start
• SAC is where the Education Stage Group is Junior/Senior Infants, 1st to 6th class or Post primary.
The sum of the children in each Education Stage does not add to the total as children may have claims in both ELC and SAC in a programme year and these children will be counted once in ELC and in SAC and once in the total.
For CCSP as no educational stage is provided the ELC/SAC definition is estimated as being SAC = Age>5years old.
