Our data & methodology

Where listings come from

Every listing starts from the Tusla Early Years Inspectorate registers: the county preschool registers, the national childminding register and the school-age (after-school) register. These are the authoritative lists of registered childcare services in Ireland, published as public inspection registers on tusla.ie.

From the registers we take the service name, address, county, service type, sessions offered, registered capacity and Tusla registration number. Each profile shows its register source and the date it was last checked against that register.

ECCE and NCS scheme flags

Scheme flags come from two official sources, checked in order:

• The NCS Childcare Search portal (ncs.gov.ie), the live, authoritative list of contracted providers.
• Pobal's open datasets of childcare facilities, used as a fallback and for historical coverage.

A listing shows ECCE or NCS when the provider is contracted into that scheme in official data. A listing marked Not confirmed means we could not match it to a contracted record; it does not mean the service is outside the scheme. Scheme status can change between checks, so always confirm with the provider.

Inspection reports

Tusla inspection reports are public documents. Where a report exists for a service we link directly to it on the profile so you can read the findings yourself. See our guide to reading a Tusla report.

Maps and locations

Map pins are geocoded from the registered address. Where an exact street-level match is not possible we mark the pin as approximate and place it at the town centre. Always confirm the full address with the provider before visiting.

How often the data is refreshed

The registers and scheme data are re-checked on a periodic cycle. Each profile shows a last checked date against its register source. Services open, close and change schemes between refreshes, so treat listings as a well-sourced starting point rather than live availability.

Corrections and provider updates

If something on a listing is wrong, use Suggest a correction on the profile and we will verify it against the register data. Providers can also contact us about their own listing. Hand-verified corrections are preserved between register refreshes.

Independence and licensing

Mini Minders is not affiliated with Tusla, Pobal or the National Childcare Scheme. Register data is Irish Public Sector Information from the Child and Family Agency (Tusla) and the Department of Education, reused under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) licence. See our terms of use for the full disclaimer.