Almost every question about childcare costs in Ireland gets answered with the word subsidy, which is a description of the help rather than an answer about the price. The price has three parts: what your provider is allowed to charge, what the state takes off it, and what is left for you.
The first part is the one most people do not know exists. Since 2022, providers who take Core Funding from the state have agreed to a fee freeze in exchange, and since 1 September 2026 they are also bound by a set of maximum weekly fees. That is a ceiling written down by the Department of Children, Disability and Equality, and you can check your quote against it.
One thing to get out of the way first, because the words cause more confusion than the rules do. Creche, nursery, montessori, playschool, pre-school: those are names services choose for themselves, and none of them changes what you pay. The subsidies and the caps are written around three other things, and this guide covers all three: whether the service is registered with Tusla, whether it holds a National Childcare Scheme contract, and whether it is in Core Funding.
The short version
- Maximum fee, full day
- €280 a week for 40 to 49 hours, at a provider in Core Funding, since 1 September 2026
- What you pay after the universal subsidy
- €183.70 a week for that same place
- Universal subsidy
- €2.14 an hour per child, no means test, up to 45 hours a week
- Income-assessed subsidy
- Up to €5.10 an hour per child, instead of the universal rate
- Free preschool hours
- 15 a week for 38 weeks a year through ECCE, from age 2 years 8 months
- The caps bind
- Only providers in Core Funding. Over 4,600 are in the scheme
Is there a cap on creche fees?
Yes, for providers in Core Funding, and it is set by the number of hours your child attends rather than by their age or where you live. The Minister announced the figures below on 3 June 2026 and they took effect on 1 September 2026. The last column is the department's own arithmetic: the cap, minus the largest universal subsidy payable for that band.
| Band | Hours a week | Maximum weekly fee | You pay, after the universal subsidy |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Under 10 | €56 | €34.60 |
| B | 10 to 19h59 | €112 | €69.20 |
| C | 20 to 29h59 | €168 | €103.80 |
| D | 30 to 39h59 | €224 | €138.40 |
| E | 40 to 49h59 | €280 | €183.70 |
| F | 50 or more | €336 | €239.70 |
Two things are worth reading carefully in that table. The last column assumes the universal subsidy, the one nobody is means-tested for, so it is the most you should be paying at a capped provider, not an estimate of a typical bill. And the subsidy stops counting at 45 hours, which is why band F costs €56 more than band E while attracting no extra help.
If you are looking for two or three days a week, there is no row for you, and that is the point. The cap is written in hours, not in days, so the answer depends on how long your provider's day is. Three days at a ten hour day is 30 hours, which is band D. The same three days somewhere that counts eight hours is 24 hours, which is band C, and the ceiling drops by €56 a week. Two days lands in band C or band B the same way. So the first question to ask a provider is not what a day costs, it is how many hours a day they count, because that is what decides the maximum they are allowed to charge you. The calculator below takes hours for exactly this reason.
For a full day place of 45 hours a week, the department puts the effect plainly: the highest possible upfront cost falls from around €198 a week to €183.70. It expects about 12% of services to have to reduce at least one fee to comply, which is the honest measure of how much this changes: most families were already paying under the ceiling.
The cap is a ceiling, not a price list. A provider charging less than the maximum keeps charging less: the fee freeze introduced in 2022 stops them raising fees to meet it. If your quote is above the figure for your band, the question to ask is whether the service is in Core Funding at all.
The two things that come off the bill
Neither one is paid to you. Both are paid to your provider, who subtracts them before invoicing you, so the number you see should already be net.
1. The National Childcare Scheme
The universal subsidy is €2.14 an hour per child, for up to 45 hours a week, with no means test at all. It runs from age 6 months (24 weeks) until the child turns 15. The income-assessed subsidy is worth up to €5.10 an hour per child instead, and what you get depends on your reckonable income, your child's age and stage, and how many children you have. You take whichever is better, not both. Our guide to the National Childcare Scheme covers the choice and the application in full.
2. The free preschool hours
ECCE gives 15 hours a week free, as 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 38 weeks of the year. It is not means-tested either. Your child qualifies from 2 years and 8 months, measured at 31 August, and stays eligible until they are older than 5 years and 6 months on 30 June of that programme year. Any hours beyond the three a day are charged normally, and the NCS can subsidise those.
The two stack in the sense that they cover different hours, not the same ones. For a preschooler in full day care, ECCE covers 15 hours and the NCS subsidises the rest.
Check a quote against the cap
Add the hours a week your child would attend to see the band, the maximum fee a Core Funding provider can charge since 1 September 2026, and the most you should be paying after the universal subsidy.
The fee is one part. The subsidies, the forms and their deadlines are the rest. See my full plan →
This is the published fee cap table applied to the hours you enter, not a decision and not a quote. Fees are set by your provider, the caps are set by the Department of Children, Disability and Equality, and subsidies are decided by Pobal. Always confirm on the official announcement and use the NCS calculator for your own subsidy.
There is no third thing: the fees get no tax relief
People look for it, reasonably, because childcare is the largest bill most young families have. It is worth saying plainly: in Ireland you cannot claim tax relief on what you pay a creche or a childminder. Citizens Information does not have a page for it, and Revenue's list of credits and reliefs for children contains the Incapacitated Child Tax Credit, the Single Person Child Carer Credit, and nothing for the fees themselves.
Do not be caught out by the name. Revenue does publish something called childcare services relief, and it is not for you. It belongs to the person doing the minding: income up to €15,000 a year is exempt where they mind no more than three children under 18 at a time, in the minder's own home, with the limit divided if two people provide the service together. It is claimed on a Form 11 by 31 October. So a childminder may mention it, and it changes their tax, not your bill.
What the state does instead is take money off the bill before it reaches you, which is the two subsidies above, rather than give it back to you afterwards through the tax system. There are tax credits in this area, but they are about caring rather than about childcare costs: the Home Carer Tax Credit if one of a married couple or civil partners is at home caring, and the Single Person Child Carer Credit if you are raising a child on your own. Neither depends on what you pay a provider, and you can hold one while paying nothing for childcare at all.
Why your quote might be higher than the cap
The most likely reason is that the service is not in Core Funding. The scheme is voluntary and the caps only bind the providers who join it, over 4,600 of them. A provider outside the scheme sets its own fees and no ceiling applies.
The second reason is that the quote covers something the cap does not. The fee bands are about hours of childcare. Meals, nappies, transport, or an optional extra billed separately sit outside that figure, so a headline number can be under the cap while the monthly total is higher.
The third is the subsidy simply is not being applied yet. Nothing comes off your bill until your provider registers your claim with your CHICK code, and until then you are quoted the gross fee. It is worth checking which of the two numbers you are being shown.
Two questions to ask before you accept a place. Is the service registered with Tusla and does it hold a National Childcare Scheme contract? Both are required before any subsidy can reach your bill, and a Tusla registration on its own is not enough. Then: is the service in Core Funding? That is the answer that tells you whether the fee cap protects you.
The income limits that changed on 31 August 2026
The income limits for the income-assessed subsidy moved up on 31 August 2026, so families who were told they earned too much should look again. The lower threshold, where the maximum rates start, is now €34,000, up from €26,000. The upper threshold, the point at which you stop qualifying, is now €68,000, up from €60,000.
The multiple child discount rose on the same day, from €4,300 to €5,500 for two children under 15, and from €8,600 to €11,000 for three or more. Despite the name it is not money: it is an amount taken off the income you are assessed on, which can lower your rate band or bring you inside the scheme.
If you already have an income-assessed subsidy, it was recalculated automatically and you do not reapply. If you are on the universal rate because your income was too high, that is the change worth acting on, and the National Childcare Scheme guide walks through it.
Who decides what
Your provider sets the fee, within the cap if they are in Core Funding. The Department of Children, Disability and Equality sets the caps and funds ECCE. Pobal administers the National Childcare Scheme and decides your subsidy and rate. Tusla registers and inspects the service itself. A question about your subsidy goes to the NCS Parent Support Centre rather than to the creche, and a question about the fee goes to the creche.
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Official sources
- gov.ie: Maximum fee caps and Core Funding Year 5, with the full fee band table
- Citizens Information: National Childcare Scheme (NCS)
- Citizens Information: Early Childhood Care and Education programme (ECCE)
- National Childcare Scheme: the official scheme website and subsidy calculator
- Pobal: Early Years sector fees data
- Revenue: Childcare services relief (what it is, and that it belongs to the minder rather than to the parent paying fees)
- Revenue: Personal tax credits, reliefs and exemptions for children (the full list, which contains nothing for childcare fees)
Facts checked against the official pages on 1 September 2026, and the section on tax relief against Revenue on 14 September 2026. This is general information, not legal or financial advice, and it does not decide your fee, your eligibility or your subsidy rate. Fees are set by your provider; the Department of Children, Disability and Equality sets the fee caps and funds ECCE; Pobal administers the National Childcare Scheme. Caps, rates and thresholds are set by government and can change; always confirm on the official pages linked above.