Public Consultation on the Regulation of School Age Childcare and of Early Learning and Care Services

The Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley, has today announced the launch of a public consultation on legislation and regulations governing school-age childcare.

Childcare services for children who are attending school are governed by the Regulations for School Age Childcare, which were introduced in 2019. As these Regulations are mainly focused on registration, the Department is now developing comprehensive School Age Childcare Regulations.

It comes at a time when the number of school aged childcare services is growing rapidly, with the support of subsidies for parents under the National Childcare Scheme.

The proportion of early learning and childcare services located on school premises has reached an all-time high. In the 2021/22 programme year, 15.9% of early learning and childcare services were located on school premises. This has increased to 22.5% in the current 2024/25 programme year.

This equates to 1,084 services of the 4,816 early learning and childcare services in contract with the Department for the 2024/25 programme year.

This consultation is an opportunity for parents, school-age childcare practitioners, providers and other stakeholders to shape the legislation that supports the regulation of school-age childcare services.

Speaking about the consultation, Minister Foley said:

In addition to questions on school-age childcare, Minister Foley is also taking this opportunity to consult on a number of potential changes to the 2016 Regulations for early learning and care services.

The consultation is open for anyone to give their feedback through an online survey (available from today until 31 October 2025) and also to indicate their interest in participating in targeted focus groups. This approach will facilitate comprehensive feedback from all relevant stakeholders. This consultation will build on previous consultations such as the 2019 consultation on the Development of School Age Childcare Comprehensive Regulations and Quality Standards.

Sectoral and parental feedback and insights will play an important role in creating a regulatory framework that meets the highest standards of care for children and also respects and acknowledges the critical role school-age childcare services play in supporting parents.

The development of comprehensive School Age Childcare Regulations is a commitment in First 5: the Whole-of-Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families.

In advance of finalisation of comprehensive School Age Childcare Regulations, expected in early 2026, draft regulations will be published for a second consultation period. This will give a further opportunity to the public to review and consider the proposals before they are introduced. It is expected that existing school-age services that are already registered with Tusla will have a transition period to ensure compliance with the new regulations.

Make your voice heard by joining the public consultation here.

-ENDS-

• Survey open from Friday 12th September 2025 until Friday 31st October 2025
• Online focus groups including survey participants (November 2025)

Regulations for School Age Childcare first came into force in 2019. As these Regulations are mainly focused on registration, the Department is now developing comprehensive School Age Childcare Regulations and giving further consideration to which services should and should not be subject to these regulations. This consultation is an opportunity for parents, school-age childcare practitioners, providers and other stakeholders to shape the legislation that supports the regulation of school-age childcare services.

This consultation will build on the previous work undertaken in the School Age Childcare public consultation in 2019 and the development of the National Quality Guidelines for School Age Childcare Services published in 2020.

In addition to questions on school-age childcare, the survey also includes a number of questions relating to potential changes to the 2016 Regulations for early learning and care services

We want to hear your views and consider them before we draft the regulations. Please complete this short online survey and share your views with us! We will also be running a number of online focus groups. People who complete the survey may be invited to participate in one of these focus groups.

The results of the consultation (survey and focus groups) will help to shape the comprehensive regulations for school age childcare and potential changes to the 2016 regulations for early learning and care services.

A report on the consultation findings will be produced and published once it has concluded.

If you have any queries please email ELCQuality@dcde.gov.ie.

Personal, confidential or commercially sensitive information should not be included in responses. If personally identifiable details are included, they will be deleted.

All survey answers are subject to release under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2014 and are also subject to Data Protection legislation.

Directive 2018/958 of the European Parliament and Council requires a proportionality test to be carried out by Member States before the introduction of new, or the amendment of existing, professional regulations that restrict access to, or the pursuit of, regulated professions. The Directive was transposed into Irish law in August 2022 (SI 413/2022). This public consultation will contribute to the State’s assessment of the proportionality of the proposed changes to regulations relating to the workforce in early learning and care and school-age childcare services.