Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to raise this matter. The Mantua preschool child care facility in County Roscommon was established in September to carry out two functions. It was to provide a service for young children and their parents in the local communities, while also securing the long-term future of Mantua national school, which was originally built in 1872 and is one of Ireland's oldest primary schools. A few years ago the school was on a knife edge, as it was threatened with closure due to dwindling numbers. The local community looked at the issue and thought of providing child care facilities locally. The preschool would support those numbers at the school.

There was a spare room at the school that was not being used, so the community established a child care committee and, subsequently, the preschool facility in Mantua national school. The community raised funds for the projects, including over €2,000 at a function in the local pub. They have also held car boot sales, an auction and a church gate collection. They also submitted an application to Pobal for funding. The school in question is recognised as disadvantaged by the Department of Education and Science under the DEIS scheme.

The number of young families moving into the Mantua area is growing, which augurs well for the future of the child care facility and the school itself. The school applied for an interim staffing grant under the interim staffing measure of the NCIP, but it received a response from the Department that it had not demonstrated the ability to manage and sustain the service efficiently. The service is up and running since 3 September, with five children on board. A vacant classroom in an existing school is being used, and a modern child care service is being provided. It is being managed by an experienced child care leader who is being paid from the funds that have been raised by the local community. This small, rural community has raised over €2,000 to get this facility up and running. The parents and the committee have told me that their funds are almost exhausted and they will have to close this Christmas unless the Minister rescinds the decision that was made.

They also plan to expand the existing service to include an after-school service, but they cannot cater for that without the provision of funding from the Department. The future of the school itself is in doubt if this funding is not provided. There are several examples in my constituency of schools with small roll numbers, but they have managed to maintain and even increase numbers by putting child care facilities in vacant classrooms. In this way, they have supported local education provision.

In their response to the local community in Mantua, departmental officials stated that a new scheme would be coming into place from 1 January 2008 and that community representatives should contact the county child care committee to make an application. The difficulty is that this facility will close at Christmas if the school does not get an interim funding grant from the Department to keep it going until it can apply under the new scheme. We have been consistently told that the objective of the scheme is to support disadvantaged communities. I ask the Minister of State to provide the interim funding to keep the facility going.

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