Addressing the severe shortage of creche and childcare facilities for young families in Carrigaline must be prioritised in future planning for the town, says Cllr Jack White (FG).
Writes Leo McMahon
In a motion seeking this at the monthly meeting of the county council’s Carrigaline Municipal District (MD), he said it was particularly difficult for parents who both have to work, with a child or children and no other family residing in the locality.
Cllr White said he spoke to creche owners in Carrigaline, one of whom had 400 children enrolled and over 40 staff across three locations who told him the need was acute with very long waiting lists. Some creches operated on as sibling-come-first basis but that was no good for parents with a first child and no other family in the locality.
Another factor, he continued, was that Carrigaline, the county’s largest town, was currently delivering a huge proportion of the council’s social housing needs with more on the way. He asked that the MD’s concerns be directed in a letter to the council’s Planning Policy Unit (PPU) and executive with a view that providing for more creche/child care facilities be one of top considerations in future planning.
An cathaoirleach Cllr Ben Dalton-O’Sullivan (Ind) supported the call for the PPU to be contacted.
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