Family life in Ireland - Child Benefit, childcare and schools

Children who live in Ireland but were not born here need a PPS number, which a parent or guardian applies for; that parent must have a PPS number first. You can apply for yourself and your children in the same MyWelfare application. See Getting a PPS number in Ireland.

Child Benefit is €140 a month for each child (2026). It is universal: it does not depend on your income or your PRSI record. You must live in Ireland and meet the Habitual Residence Condition. EU and EEA citizens who work in Ireland (employed or self-employed) automatically meet that condition; other nationals must satisfy it, and the child must live in Ireland but does not need to be an Irish citizen. If your child lives in another EU or EEA country, there are coordination rules between countries.

• ECCE (Early Childhood Care and Education) gives children 15 free hours a week of preschool: 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 38 weeks a year. Children can start when they have turned 2 years and 8 months by 31 August and must not be older than 5 years and 6 months on or before 30 June of the programme year. Extra hours are charged. A booking deposit cannot be more than 4 weeks of ECCE payments and must be refunded once registration is approved.
• National Childcare Scheme (NCS): for children from 6 months (24 weeks) to under 15, attending a provider registered with Tusla. The universal subsidy of €2.14 an hour for up to 45 hours a week is not means-tested; families with income below €68,000 can apply for a higher, income-assessed subsidy. The subsidy is paid to your provider and deducted from your bill. You or your partner must be ordinarily resident with a legal right to live here, or a national of the EU, EEA, Switzerland or the UK.

Most children start primary school (also called national school) at 4 or 5, and must start formal education by 6. Education is compulsory from 6 to 16, or until a child has completed 3 years of post-primary education. Primary school lasts 8 years: two infant classes (junior and senior infants) and first to sixth class. The primary school day is 5 hours 40 minutes, schools open for at least 183 days a year, and the school year usually starts in the week of 1 September. Most children wear a school uniform.

Every state-funded primary school follows the same curriculum but has a patron who decides its ethos. In 2025, more than 88% of primary schools had a Catholic patronage, about 6% had another religious patron (such as Church of Ireland, Jewish or Islamic), and only about 5.5% were multi-denominational, such as Educate Together schools and Community National Schools run by the local Education and Training Board. Gaelscoileanna teach through Irish.

In denominational schools, children are prepared for sacraments such as First Holy Communion during the school day. You can opt your child out of religious instruction; the school must make alternative arrangements, which may mean supervised work in the same classroom.

Schools open applications for the following school year from 1 October; in October 2026, for example, you can apply for September 2027. Each school publishes an admissions notice and an admissions policy on its website, at least a week before applications open. Apply directly to each school on its admissions form. If you arrive mid-year, contact schools near your home directly about available places. If your child has been to school before, the principal, you and the class teacher decide together which class your child joins.