HOW TO HIRE · CHILDCARE & FAMILY · CHECKED OCTOBER 2026
How to hire a montessori in Ireland
The checks, the questions and the paperwork.
A Montessori preschool in Ireland costs €64.50–€85 per week outside the free ECCE hours, typically around €75. Here is how to check that in a minute, what to ask, and what you must be handed when the job is done.
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THE 60-SECOND VERSION
Hiring a montessori in five steps
- Are you on the Tusla Register of Early Years Services, and what is your number?A number you can look up yourself before you agree a price — mixed ages — younger and older children share a room, so they learn from each other and work at their own pace.
- How does ECCE or paid hours change the price?The three ECCE hours a day in term are free at a Montessori preschool that runs them, so only time outside them is charged. — ask before the quote rather than after.
- How does length of the session change the price?A longer Montessori session costs more than a short morning. — ask before the quote rather than after.
- How does area change the price?Sessional preschool fees are highest in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, at the top of the national range. — ask before the quote rather than after.
- What is not included?The ECCE hours themselves: they are free, and a preschool cannot charge you for them — get the exclusions named in the quote, because a montessori job is priced on what was agreed and not on what was assumed.
BEFORE YOU BOOK
Check before you book
Tusla Register of Early Years Services
Find the service on the Tusla register for its county and check that the type of service and the ages listed match the place you are being offered. The latest inspection report is published by Tusla. The register lists each service with the type of service it offers, how many children it can accommodate and the ages of the children it cares for. It is updated monthly, sorted by county and town, and Tusla publishes its inspection reports. A pre-school service (a crèche, playschool, naíonra or Montessori preschool) and a school-age service (an after-school or breakfast club) must each be registered with Tusla's Early Years Inspectorate, which registers, inspects and, where necessary, takes enforcement action.
Search the Tusla Register of Early Years Services for the name or the registration number before you agree a price. tusla.ie →
Garda vetting
National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012–2016 A registered service has to obtain a Garda vetting disclosure for the registered provider, the person in charge and the staff who work with the children. Vetting is carried out by the service, not by a parent: ask how the service vets its staff.
Ask to see the garda vetting letter itself, with its date on it — not a statement that one exists.
Insurance
Expect the service must be adequately insured under the regulations; ask to see the insurance. Ask for the insurer, the limit and the Tusla registration number.
Ask to see the current certificate of insurance — the insurer's name, the limit and the date it runs to.
Trader or private seller
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2022 a trader must tell you they are a trader, and your consumer rights — work carried out with reasonable skill and care, and a cooling-off period on a contract agreed in your home or online — apply to traders and not to private sellers. On Locufy the trader status is shown on the profile.
Look for the trader badge on the Locufy profile, and ask anyone else for it in writing before you agree a price.
VAT
No VAT: this service is exempt, so there is none to add and none to reclaim. A quote that adds it is wrong. A trader under the €42,500 registration threshold does not charge it; one over it must, and must show it separately.
Ask for the Tusla registration number instead: childcare is exempt, so there is no VAT number to check, and the registration number is how you find the service on Tusla's register. revenue.ie →
A good answer: A number you can look up yourself before you agree a price — mixed ages — younger and older children share a room, so they learn from each other and work at their own pace.
A good answer: The three ECCE hours a day in term are free at a Montessori preschool that runs them, so only time outside them is charged. — ask before the quote rather than after.
A good answer: A longer Montessori session costs more than a short morning. — ask before the quote rather than after.
A good answer: Sessional preschool fees are highest in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, at the top of the national range. — ask before the quote rather than after.
A good answer: The ECCE hours themselves: they are free, and a preschool cannot charge you for them — get the exclusions named in the quote, because a montessori job is priced on what was agreed and not on what was assumed.
A good answer: Expect the service must be adequately insured under the regulations; ask to see the insurance — early language and numbers — letters, sounds and counting introduced with hands-on Montessori materials.
A good answer: A written scope and a price before the montessori starts, and an itemised invoice after — sensorial materials — materials that help children sort and compare by size, shape, colour and sound.
Getting the quote right
- ECCE or paid hours — the three ECCE hours a day in term are free at a Montessori preschool that runs them, so only time outside them is charged.
- Length of the session — a longer Montessori session costs more than a short morning.
- Area — sessional preschool fees are highest in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, at the top of the national range.
- Optional extras — a Montessori preschool can charge for food or activities, and you can choose not to take them.
- In writing before anyone starts — a message on Locufy counts
- What is NOT included, named
- The Tusla registration number, and whether it is on Tusla's register of early years services
Walk away if
- They are not on the Tusla Register of Early Years Services, or the number does not resolve to the name on the quote
- They will not talk about it: ECCE or paid hours — the three ECCE hours a day in term are free at a Montessori preschool that runs them, so only time outside them is charged
- They will not talk about it: length of the session — a longer Montessori session costs more than a short morning
- They will not talk about it: area — sessional preschool fees are highest in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, at the top of the national range
- A price for the montessori before anyone has asked the size, the access or the condition of what they are working on
- Cash only, or a large deposit before anything at all has started
What a montessori costs: €64.50–€85 per week
The figures are for the job, per week, and a quote for your own is the only number that binds anyone. Montessori ecce sessions and Morning sessions each carry their own band. Montessori price guide →
Guide prices compiled by the Locufy team from published Irish and UK provider price lists and 2026/27 cost guides. Updated 2026.
KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR? NOW FIND ONE
Montessoris near you, with the badges that matter shown
ID checked, trader status and one score from every review — on the card, before you message anyone. Nearest first. No account needed to look.
Or post the job free and let them come to you.
- Look firstECCE or paid hours — the three ECCE hours a day in term are free at a Montessori preschool that runs them, so only time outside them is charged — that is what the montessori is judging on the first visit, and a price given without it is a guess.
- Agree what is being doneLength of the session — a longer Montessori session costs more than a short morning — put in writing before anyone starts, because it is the document you both read back at the end.
- The work itselfArea — sessional preschool fees are highest in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, at the top of the national range — and anything found on the day that was not in that is priced before it is started.
- Check it togetherOptional extras — a Montessori preschool can charge for food or activities, and you can choose not to take them — walked against the written scope rather than against the feeling of it, while the montessori is still there.
- What you are handedThe itemised invoice and any guarantee on the workmanship and the parts, national Childcare Scheme — for paid hours outside ECCE, an NCS subsidy can be taken off the fee at a participating preschool.
- Child-led activity
- Children choose their own work from the room's Montessori materials and are given time to finish it.
- Practical life
- Everyday tasks such as pouring, dressing and tidying, which build independence and concentration.
- Sensorial materials
- Materials that help children sort and compare by size, shape, colour and sound.
- Early language and numbers
- Letters, sounds and counting introduced with hands-on Montessori materials.
- Mixed ages
- Younger and older children share a room, so they learn from each other and work at their own pace.
- Montessori ECCE sessions
- The free preschool hours, three a day in term, run in a Montessori room.
AFTER
When the job is done
Hiring a montessori: questions people ask
Typically €64.50–€85 a week for a sessional place in Ireland outside the free ECCE hours, before any subsidy. Enter your area above to see Montessori preschools near you.
The ECCE hours are free at any preschool that runs the programme, Montessori included: three hours a day, five days a week, in term. Check the preschool on the Tusla register; the name Montessori is not a registration.
Children choose their own activities from hands-on Montessori materials, in a mixed-age room, and are given time to finish what they start. Ask about the training of the staff in the Montessori room.
Yes. It must be registered with Tusla's Early Years Inspectorate like any other preschool; the word Montessori on its own is not a registration. Its registration number and latest inspection report are published by Tusla.
Most take children in the two years before school; each profile shows the ages it takes. Ask whether the preschool runs ECCE and how long each session is.
Enter your town, area or Eircode above. The nearest Montessori preschools come first, with the sessions they run. Each profile shows the care types, the ages and whether it runs ECCE, where the preschool lists them.
MORE GUIDES
More hiring guides in childcare & family
Montessoris near you
Sources — checked October 2026
- Tusla — Early Years Inspectorate
- Tusla — Register of Early Years Services by County
- S.I. No. 221/2016 — Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016
- S.I. No. 575/2018 — Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) (Registration of School Age Services) Regulations 2018
- Revenue — Childcare, child protection (VAT)
- Citizens Information — Early Childhood Care and Education programme (ECCE)
- Citizens Information — National Childcare Scheme
- Consumer Rights Act 2022
- Revenue — CHILDCARE - CHILD PROTECTION (Children and education) — Exempt
- Revenue — current VAT rates (effective 1 January 2026)
- Revenue — VAT thresholds: €42,500 for a person supplying services only