Cork City Council is called on to ensure childcare sites are utilised

A Cork city councillor has said the council and other state bodies must do more to ensure that childcare facilities delivered as part of housing developments are actually put into use.

Labour councillor Ciara O’Connor, who works in the early years sector, tabled a motion at the council’s strategic and economic development directorate on the issue.

The motion calls for council to recognise “the chronic shortage of accessible childcare places and the increasing delays in operationalising purpose-built crèche units within new housing developments”, and commit to engaging with stakeholders including developers, planning authorities, and childcare providers to rectify this.

She suggested that solutions could include a Cork-specific scheme whereby the council or other state body acquire or lease childcare units in new developments and sub-lease them to providers at affordable rates.

Other options include reviewing and strengthening existing planning conditions, or advocating for new guidelines, including the need for childcare facilities in smaller developments, or as part of new primary schools.

Ms O’Connor also suggested establishing a local monitoring framework “to ensure that planning conditions for childcare provision are not only met in design but delivered in practice, with a clear timeline and accountability mechanisms”.

Council directors Niall Ó Donnabháin and Rebecca Loughry told Ms O’Connor in a written response to her motion that the Cork City Development Plan 2022-2028 has specific requirements in relation to childcare, requiring purpose-built childcare facilities as part of new proposals for housing of more than 75 units, in line with current national planning guidelines.

“The requirements of the City Development Plan are applied to each relevant planning applicant and enshrined in planning conditions, which are enforced through the Planning and Integrated Development Directorate.” 

They added that they will “continue to be a collaborative partner with other relevant stakeholders in the expansion of any new public childcare facilities done by the department”.

Ms O’Connor told The Echo that the issue was that the plan was not ensuring childcare facilities that were built were actually put into use for childcare, saying that the current system “reflects a systemic weakness in how planning conditions are enforced, monitored, and prioritised.

“The response I received to my motion noted that planning conditions are ‘enforced’ by Cork City Council, but without any detail on how compliance is tracked, how long these facilities remain unused, or what accountability mechanisms are in place when developers default.” She said that “a checkbox approach is not enough”, calling for local authorities to take a more proactive role in ensuring these units are brought into use.

“We cannot wait for national reform alone. We need local solutions now,” Ms O’Connor said, suggestion a local audit of all unoccupied or underutilised childcare units delivered as part of planning conditions and plans for how to bring them into use and prevent the same problem happening again in the future.

She concluded: “Childcare is essential infrastructure—just like roads or schools—and must be treated as such. Parents deserve better than empty promises and empty buildings.”