Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)

The Government should be proactive and immediately indicate that the closures will not proceed. The colleges state it costs €234 per week to provide child care for one child. Following the cut from €170 to €145 in the subvention, the VECs sought to part-fund places but are unable to continue to provide child care support. Three crèches will close in Dublin at the end of June. I call on the Minister of State to be serious about this and make sure that those child care places are in the colleges next September. Will he send out the new President officially to close the crèche in Whitehall, as his predecessor opened it only a year ago?

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