HOW TO HIRE · CHILDCARE & FAMILY · CHECKED OCTOBER 2026
How to hire a preschool (ECCE) in Ireland
The checks, the questions and the paperwork.
A preschool place 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 preschool (ECCE) 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 — vetted staff — everyone working with the children is Garda vetted, as the registration rules require of the service.
- How does ECCE or paid hours change the price?The three ECCE hours a day in term are free, so only preschool time outside them is charged. — ask before the quote rather than after.
- How does length of the session change the price?A longer preschool 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 preschool (ECCE) 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 — vetted staff — everyone working with the children is Garda vetted, as the registration rules require of the service.
A good answer: The three ECCE hours a day in term are free, so only preschool time outside them is charged. — ask before the quote rather than after.
A good answer: A longer preschool 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 preschool (ECCE) 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 — snack time — A shared snack in the session, provided by the preschool or sent in from home.
A good answer: A written scope and a price before the preschool (ECCE) starts, and an itemised invoice after — outdoor play — time outside most days, in the preschool's own garden or yard.
Getting the quote right
- ECCE or paid hours — the three ECCE hours a day in term are free, so only preschool time outside them is charged.
- Length of the session — a longer preschool 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 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, so only preschool time outside them is charged
- They will not talk about it: length of the session — a longer preschool 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 preschool (ECCE) 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 preschool (ECCE) 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. Ecce sessions and Second ecce year each carry their own band. Preschool (ECCE) 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
Preschool (ECCE)s 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, so only preschool time outside them is charged — that is what the preschool (ECCE) 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 preschool 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 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 preschool (ECCE) 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.
- Play-based learning
- Learning through play, stories, songs and art, planned around the children in the room.
- Getting ready for school
- Taking turns, following a routine and doing more for themselves, at a pace that suits each child.
- Outdoor play
- Time outside most days, in the preschool's own garden or yard.
- Snack time
- A shared snack in the session, provided by the preschool or sent in from home.
- Vetted staff
- Everyone working with the children is Garda vetted, as the registration rules require of the service.
- ECCE sessions
- Three free hours a day, five days a week, in term, for children who qualify.
AFTER
When the job is done
Hiring a preschool (ECCE): questions people ask
The ECCE hours are free: three hours a day, five days a week, for 38 weeks of the year. Extra hours and optional extras can be charged. Optional extras are your choice, and your child keeps the free hours if you say no to them.
Once they have turned 2 years and 8 months by 31 August, and up to 5 years and 6 months by 30 June of the preschool year. The eligibility table on gov.ie shows the years by month of birth.
Typically €64.50–€85 a week for a sessional place in Ireland, before any subsidy. Enter your area above to see preschools near you.
It can ask for a booking deposit to hold a place, but the deposit has to be refunded once your child's ECCE registration is approved. Check the preschool on the Tusla register and read its latest inspection report.
Yes. Every preschool must be registered with Tusla's Early Years Inspectorate, which inspects it and publishes the reports. A preschool that is not on the register cannot run ECCE or take the National Childcare Scheme.
Enter your town, area or Eircode above. The nearest preschools come first, with the sessions they run.
MORE GUIDES
More hiring guides in childcare & family
Preschool (ECCE)s 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