Almost 29,000 children under 15 attended childcare in Kerry last year

Almost 29,000 children in Kerry aged under 15 years of age attended childcare last year.

That’s according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office.

A question on whether children attended childcare, the type of facility, and the weekly hours attended for, was asked for the first time in Census 2022.

The report shows that children in the county attended childcare for over 9,400 hours.

According to the figures in Census 22, the most common type of childcare used was a creche or a similar facility; The second, was provided by an unpaid relative or family member.

The report shows, 28,756 children under the age of 15 in Kerry were in childcare; of this over 19,000 (19,302) were not in a childcare facility.

Almost 3,000 (2,818) indicated an unpaid relative or family member provided childcare, while 431 used a paid relative or family member.

Over 3,800 (3,888) children attended a facility (creche/Montessori/playgroup/after school).

More than 2,000 (2,085) used the service of a childminder, with over 1,500 (1,544) attending a childminders home, while over 500 (541) used an Au pair/nanny/childminder in the child’s home.

129 indicated they used other forms of childcare (including special needs facility, breakfast club), while 103 respondents did not state the type of childcare used.

Children aged 15 and under in the county spent 9,454 hours in childcare.

5 to 8 year-olds spent the most time in childcare, at 2,841 hours; 3-4 year olds in the county amassed 2,326 hours; the 9 to 14 age bracket accounted for 2,216 hours; while children aged 2 and under spent 2,071 hours in childcare.

Meanwhile, 6.4% of Kerry’s population identified as unpaid carers in Census 2022.

Table 3.8 Children aged under 15 in childcare by age group, hours spent in childcare and administrative county, 2022:

Children aged under 15 in childcare - type of childcare facility, 2022