Taoiseach urged to help secure funding needed to reopen Cork city childcare centre

A CORK TD has called on Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to intervene and help secure the funding necessary for the reopening of a northside preschool.

The Churchfield childcare facility formerly known as Before 5 closed with immediate effect last August, citing “financial challenges, changes in regulations, operational challenges, and recruitment issues”.

The centre, which has provided preschool childcare for five decades, employed 14 people and had preschool spaces for up to 100 children, but local people have stressed that Before 5, which also provided a homework club and adult classes, fulfilled a vital community role.

Given the centre’s activities beyond preschool care, the parents of more than 300 children depended upon Before 5 for childcare provision.

Speaking in the Dáil during Parliamentary Questions yesterday, Mick Barry, People Before Profit/Solidarity TD for Cork North Central, said the urgent hope was that a new facility would be able to open in the former Before 5 premises in September.

“For that to happen, approximately €366,000 of works need to be done, and for them to be done in time, work will need to commence before May,” said Mr Barry.

He added that the new management team at Northside Community Enterprises had written to five ministers in a bid to unlock funding.

Mr Barry asked the Taoiseach if he would communicate to the ministers his view that this issue needed to be treated as “a matter of utmost priority”.

Mr Varadkar responded that he did not have details to hand on the issue, but he intended to make enquiries of Mr O’Gorman.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould, has called for an urgent meeting on the matter.

“Having spoken with the new operator, and reviewing the business proposal, I believe we now need to meet to find out where exactly funding has been sought,” said Mr Gould.