Ireland has no legal obligation to provide or guarantee an Early Years place

Ireland is one of only three EU Member States that does not provide a legal entitlement to an Early Years place or make Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) compulsory, according to the recently published European Commission’s Eurydice report Key data on early childhood education and care in Europe 2025.

Covering 37 European countries, the key data provided in the report is structured around the five key dimensions of quality in Early Years agreed upon by the European Union (EU) Member States:

1) Access
2) Workforce
3) Curriculum
4) Monitoring and evaluation
5) Governance and funding.

In the third of a series of articles on this key data, we look at the Eurydice report’s findings on access to Early Childhood Education and Care in Europe.

1.   Legal entitlement and compulsory attendance explained

In Europe, there are two approaches to ensuring universal access to Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). Some countries provide a legal entitlement to an Early Years place, while others make Early Years attendance compulsory. Each approach requires public authorities to commit to guaranteeing a place in an Early Years setting for each child. However, there are some fundamental differences. A legal entitlement means that a child has a right to an Early Years place, but, when it is compulsory, a child has a legal obligation to attend.

Under the legal entitlement, public authorities have to guarantee a place for any child in the age range covered whose parents request a place. In contrast, in countries where Early Years is compulsory, public authorities must guarantee a sufficient number of places for all children in the age range covered by the legal obligation.

In Ireland, there is no legal obligation on the State to provide or guarantee an Early Years place, however, the whole-of-government strategy for babies, young children and their families, First 5 (2019-2028), has a commitment to “introduce a universal legal entitlement to pre-school” over the lifetime of the strategy.

2.   Most countries provide a legal entitlement to Early Childhood Education and Care for at least a year

Seven EU Member States (Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden) and Norway guarantee a place in Early Childhood Education and Care for each child from an early age (6–18 months), often immediately after the end of maternity/paternity leave.

A place in a publicly subsidised Early Years setting is guaranteed from the age of 3 years or a little earlier in the three communities of Belgium and in Czechia, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Hungary, Poland and Portugal.

Around a third of European countries guarantee a place only for the last 1–2 years of Early Childhood Education and Care. Ireland offers an optional universal free Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme of 15 weekly hours for children between the ages of 2 years and 8 months and 5 years and 6 months, which has a very high participation rate of 96 per cent.

3.   Compulsory Early Childhood Education and Care is more common than legal entitlement

Overall, data reveals that compulsory Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) has become a more common measure than entitlement to it.

A legal right to a place in an Early Years setting is currently granted in 16 European countries, while Early Childhood Education and Care is compulsory in 21 countries.

Some countries provide both a legal entitlement to an Early Years place and compulsory ECEC. In Belgium, Czechia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden, young children first have the right to a place in an Early Years setting, but all children must attend an Early Years setting during the 1 or 2 years before they start primary education.

One third of Member States recently introduced an obligation to attend the last year(s) of ECEC and several are planning to introduce such reforms in the near future.

4.   Most European countries guarantee 20-26 weekly Early Childhood Education and Care hours

Most European countries guarantee 20–26 weekly Early Childhood Education and Care hours (i.e. school-time hours). This time organisation typically reflects the situation in Early Childhood Education and Care systems with separate settings. Ireland does not guarantee any Early Childhood Education and Care hours.

5.   Ireland has no period of maternity leave paid at a high earnings-related level

In the Eurydice report, “childcare leave” is the equivalent of Ireland’s maternity leave i.e. the period of leave surrounding the birth of a baby.

Researchers looked at the length of well-paid ‘childcare leave’ (where ‘well paid’ means earnings related payment of 66 per cent of earnings or more while on maternity leave) in Europe. Data shows that:

• almost half of European countries provide an opportunity for families to stay off work on well-paid leave and raise their children for around 1 year or more.
• more than a quarter of European countries provide well-paid childcare leave for less than 5 months.
• Families may care for their children without facing financial risk for up to 2 years after the child’s birth in Hungary and Romania.
• Lithuania and Estonia come next in terms of length of leave, with well-paid childcare leave available up until the child reaches 1-and-a-half years of age.

Notably, in Ireland and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, no period of leave is paid at a high earnings-related level

6.   Ireland has longest “Early Years” in Europe

The Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) gap indicates the amount of time a child is not covered by either well-paid ‘childcare leave’ or a guaranteed place in publicly subsidised Early Years setting. This is the period when families with young children have to make decisions about whether to stay at home, whether to turn to informal care, or whether and how to pay for private Early Childhood Education and Care.

Figure B3 shows the difference between the end of the maximum well-paid ‘childcare leave’ and the earliest start of the universal Early Years place guarantee. The European countries are listed according to the length of the ECEC gap. On the left, where no gap is indicated, are the countries with well-coordinated leave and Early Childhood Education and Care policies. Countries with no ECEC gap grant long well-paid leave (on average 13 months) and have unitary Early Childhood Education and Care systems that provide a legal right to a subsidised, but not free, place. Although Ireland offers the ECCE programme, it is not guaranteed, therefore, Ireland has the longest Early Childhood Education and Care gap in Europe.

Early Childhood Ireland’s key policy priorities for the Early Years and School Age Care system in Ireland, 4 Asks for Children, include a proposal to guarantee 66 percent of a parent/guardian’s income during the first year of a child’s life to enable them to stay at home during this crucial period. If implemented, this proposal would bring Ireland more in line with almost half of the European countries covered in the Eurydice report.

If you would like to get in touch, or if you have any questions or queries about our work, please contact policy@earlychildhoodireland.ie.

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