Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)

I want to take this opportunity, when we are discussing community centres, to make a request. This was a question I had in and it was moved to another Department but I am going to try and wedge it in here anyway. It concerns community childcare. When we are talking about community centres, we need to be looking at harnessing those buildings. We had a discussion on Storm Éowyn and the way in which it exposed some of the fragile infrastructure. Now that there is a lens on it and people are looking at that vital infrastructure, the Minister might consider and have community childcare and crèches as part of community centre redevelopment where it is happening. They are located, as Deputy McGreehan has pointed out, at the centre of our communities. They are the beating heart of our communities and are, very often, a very handy place for parents to get to and from. I ask that the Minister would keep community childcare to the forefront when he is discussing and considering community centres and investment.

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