Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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230. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the percentage of GDP spent on early years education during each of the past ten years. [25346/14]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Data on the percentage of GDP spent on early years education has only been included as part of the UOE (UNESCO, OECD, EUROSTAT) return for Education at a Glance since the full introduction of the universal pre-school scheme in January 2010 and only includes the public expenditure by the DCYA.

Table 4.1 in Education at a Glance 2013 shows that Ireland spent 0.1% of GDP on pre-primary education in 2010 (public expenditure only) and that spending on pre-primary education accounted for 0.2% of overall public expenditure.

Data for 2011 will become available with the publication of Education at a Glance 2014.