GCE has made significant inroads into the Irish education system at both primary and post-primary levels (GENE, 2015; McBreen, 2020), and a small but increasing body of research has considered the potential of exploring GCE within early childhood education. Oberman, Waldron and Dillon (2012) demonstrate the need to engage young children with issues of human rights and justice, and recognise that very young children are already forming opinions and beliefs about such concerns. Other research suggests that there are significant opportunities to develop GCE in early childhood spaces, with one noted avenue being Aistear: The Early Childhood Curriculum Framework (Dillon & O’Shea, 2009; Dillon, Ruane & Kavanagh, 2010). Although strong connections have been identified between GCE and current iterations of the Aistear framework (French & McKenna, 2022), little is known about current practices, possibilities and challenges for GCE at this educational level. This research project seeks to provide a preliminary assessment of GCE in early childhood education (ECE) in Ireland and to scope the needs and possibilities for GCE in this area. It is hoped that this knowledge can inform and support further development of GCE in this field, particularly as the Irish early childhood curriculum framework is developed and implemented over the coming years. The report begins by providing an overview of ECE within the Irish context, and defining the nature of the Irish system as well as key curricular developments. The report then explains the two main aspects of the research design for this project, namely, a scoping literature review exploring academic literature on GCE in ECE, and a qualitative dimension conducting expert interviews with ECE practitioners and policymakers. The report provides an analysis of the literature gathered through the scoping study, before sharing the findings garnered from expert interviews. It finishes with a consideration of the implications of these findings and a series of recommendations for practitioners and policy makers.