Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Pringle for raising this issue and I acknowledge he raises it regularly, as do other colleagues in County Donegal. I accept a statement of the obvious. The Deputy has rightly said that the Government and I are aware this is not just a Donegal issue. It is important to say that. My note mentions counties Mayo, Clare and Limerick as other areas that have been affected. The Government recently took a decision to include Sligo County Council too. I am aware this is an issue that first came to visibility in Donegal with devastating effects, worry and stress for people. However, it is not one that is exclusive to Donegal. We have a back and forth in this Chamber - which is one of the reasons it is here - to speak up for constituents, but I think the Government has endeavoured to make a real intervention of incredible scale. We continue to work our way through issues as they arise. The Deputy has raised another relatively new issue relating to community childcare. We are now engaging on that too although today, because I do not want to be disingenuous, I will not be prescriptive about how we help that community childcare centre he referenced in Ardara. I will ask the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, to continue his engagement and reply to the Deputy directly.

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