Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

A request to provide crèche facilities for members of the Defence Forces has been made by the Defence Forces representative associations.

The Defence Forces partnership steering group, which was established following on from Partnership 2000, has tasked a partnership sub-committee with examining the issue of the provision of child care facilities under a number of headings, including demand for places, location and cost.

The partnership sub-committee has now completed a survey on the demand for crèche places in the vicinity of the Curragh. Work has also been completed with regard to a possible site and estimates of costs. Following on from this, I understand the sub-committee has submitted a draft report to the partnership steering group on the feasibility of the project. I am assured a final report will be available in the near future.

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