Early Years Inspections

The Early Years Inspectorate is legally obliged to ensure that inspections are carried out regularly and with appropriate frequency in early years services  in order to verify that the relevant requirements of the appropriate legislation are adhered to in full. Inspections are carried out by eight regional teams and are coordinated and managed nationally. Data is reviewed to ensure optimum use of resources so that services which present higher levels of risk are subject to a higher inspection frequency.

In this section you can find; details of the eight regional inspection teams and sample inspection documentation.

You should also visit the Early Years Provider resources section for additional information about inspections including guidance documents, webinars and eLearning

We have developed an Inspection in Early Years Services leaflet to aid understanding of how our inspection process works.

The Department of Education also undertakes inspections of early years services in Ireland. These inspections are focused on the quality of the nature, range and appropriateness of the early educational experiences for children. You can find out more about these inspections on the Department of Education Early years Education Inspections website.