About us

Start Strong is committed to advancing high quality care and education as a right for all young children in Ireland. Our advocacy is built on clear evidence of the benefits this brings for children, for the economy and for society.

We work to promote informed policy development and increased investment in young children. We support our advocacy with new research and the analysis of good practice. In particular, we are working to encourage the development of a 10-year national plan to bring early care and education in Ireland up to the highest international standards by 2020.

Start Strong was originally founded in 2004 as the Irish Childcare Policy Network (ICPN), a coalition of organisations and individuals interested in progressing childcare and early learning policies in Ireland. Following a series of generous contributions from our funders, ICPN  incorporated as a company, hired full-time staff, and evolved into Start Strong in 2009.

Read our Strategic Plan 2009-2013.