Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

St. Muirin's crèche has operated in the Avonbeg area of Tallaght for the past 16 years. It is based in a building that is due to be demolished and refurbished as part of an overall programme for the area. The crèche has room for approximately 24 children and has 12 staff all of whom are on the community employment scheme. They all love their work and seem to be very popular with the children and their parents. We were contacted earlier this week and advised of its imminent closure. There is disbelief locally. People cannot believe that in a time when we need to increase the number of crèche facilities we could be closing a community-run crèche. It does not make sense.

Some of the women on the scheme are in their 50s and my understanding of the scheme is that they would normally have worked for between six and seven years. There are also women in their 40s with up to three years and women in their 30s with two to two and a half years. It does not make sense to take the women from this facility. It is reasonably priced. Many of the people with children at the crèche are on low incomes. Some of them are in employment and others are in full-time education. Their difficulty is that there is no alternative. They will not be able to afford private sector child care and they are at a loss as to why any State body would close a crèche in this day and age.

One of the workers was told in a supermarket that the crèche would close. The workers received a phone call from someone in FÁS, but they have not received anything officially in writing. There is disbelief and confusion locally. We have been asked to report back to staff on Monday, hopefully with some reasonable explanation as to why the crèche will close. The Departments responsible need to wake up to the crisis that will face the families in the area. While we are all in favour of people moving on to education etc., if we do not have the facilities in place, that education will fall by the wayside. I hope the Minister of State has answers for us. There is a crisis in the area and people do not know where to go. Some of the women who are in their 50s will find it difficult to move on. They love their work and want to continue at it. Some time next year I believe the site of the existing facility will become a €1.5 million community centre. A youth and ladies club will operate at the new St. Muirin's community centre. In the meantime if this crèche closes the community will face a crisis and everyone wants to know why.

See this speech in context