The Early Childhood Care and Education Programme (ECCE) is a universal two-year preschool program available to all children within the eligible age range. It provides children with their first formal experience of early learning before commencing primary school. The program is provided for three hours per day, five days per week, over 38 weeks per year, running from September to June each year.
There is one point of entry at the beginning of the program year. The program is available to all children who have turned 2 years and 8 months of age before August 31st, as long as they won't turn 5 years and 6 months of age on or before June 30th of the program year.
Childcare services participating in the ECCE program must provide an appropriate preschool educational program that adheres to the principles of Aistear & Síolta, the national framework for early years care and education.
National Childcare Applicant Portal
The National Childcare Scheme establishes an equitable and progressive system of universal and income-related subsidies for children up to the age of 15. It also provides an innovative and user-friendly online application process to access those subsidies.