Decision on starting child in kindergarten during covid

Hello,

I hope someone can help me or is possibly in the same situation but with a solution.

My son was born here, he will turn 3 soon and it has come to my attention that he should be in daycare as it is the norm here. I’m a stay at home mother and he is my only child so the fear of sending him away to daycare is scary in itself let alone it being not something I have not grown up with. We’re from Ireland so sending your child away to daycare is usually if both parents are working or if you want them to socialise (they wouldn’t be there everyday all day). Also the setup is extremely different, here it seems very much like child minding facilities while in Ireland you receive daily reports, there are checking in cameras, menus are provided to ensure healthy eating, they learn multiple languages, etc. Even in Ireland being a stay at home parent is preferable over daycare, because the kids are there for an entire work day.
However the mothers/fathers here with children of similar age are sending their kids and apparently I’m the odd one out. Also the pandemic doesn’t seem to be a factor in their decision, while it is very much in mine.

So I’m coming here to see if there are any expat parents who are not putting their children into daycare facilities/kindergarten this year? Is it because of the pandemic?
Is it because it’s just not for your family setup? I also don’t want my son to be the only child starting school to be the odd one out.
Any parents out there who decided to send their kids at 5, did you kids find it more difficult starting school compared to others?

Basically I’m looking for reassurance that I’m not making an awful decision for my son.

Thank you in advance