Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 October 2025
401. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of pre-school places in each county in 2020 to 2024 and to date in 2025; and her definition of pre-school in terms of age. [52855/25]
Amharc ar fhreagra402. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of school age childcare places in each county in 2020 to 2024 and to date in 2025; and her definition of pre-school in terms of age. [52856/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 401 and 402 together.
Each year, Pobal compiles and publishes data from Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC) providers as part of the Early Years Sector Profile. While 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 at a given time.
The most recently published capacity data for the 20232/24 programme year estimated that there were an estimated 234,597 children enrolled in ELC and SAC services nationally.
In relation to capacity 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.
The capacity data for 2020/21 to 2023/24 is summarised in the table below.
|
- |
2020/21* |
2021/22 |
2022/23 |
2023/24 |
|
ELC |
|
|
|
|
|
Estimated enrolments |
137,933 |
146,338 |
148,998 |
155,414 |
|
% of services with at least one vacant place |
50% |
51% |
45% |
38% |
|
% of services with a waiting list |
38% |
47% |
47% |
48% |
|
SAC |
|
|
|
|
|
Estimated enrolments |
44,984 |
50,847 |
64,156 |
79,183 |
|
% of services with at least one vacant place |
51% |
43% |
37% |
30% |
|
% of services with a waiting list |
24% |
31% |
37% |
40% |
Notes: *The number of enrolments during 2020/21 were impacted by Covid-related restrictions. ELC services are those offering care to children in the following age groups: Up to 1 year; 1 year+ to 2 years; 2 years+ to 3 years; 3 years+ to 4 years; 4 years+ to 5 years Non-school going; 5 years+ to 6 years Non-school going. *SAC services are those offering care to children in the following age groups: 4 years+ to 5 years School going; 5 years+ to 6 years School going; 6 years+ to 8 years; 8 years+.
It is important to note that in relation to waiting lists, the data should not be used as a measure of overall demand for ELC and SAC places. While waiting list data can be used to give an indication of demand for places for a given age group or service type not all services operate a waiting list. In addition, an individual child may be on multiple waiting lists in different services.
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. Data cleaning for the 2024/2025 AEYSP is currently in progress and the results will be published on the Early Learning and Childcare Data website as soon as they are available.
