Student parents protest over closure of crèche

ANGRY student parents of kids who attend a Southside crèche staged a protest against its closure last week.

They claimed the closure will affect their education and ultimately pose problems for them in finding employment.

About 20 parents of 23 pre-school children that currently attend the crèche at the Ballyfermot College of Further Education (BCFE) learned recently that it will close on July 31.

They were joined outside the college last Thursday by teaching staff at BCFE and other students in a protest against the closure.

Some of the protestors are lone parents who are currently registered on a wide variety of courses at the college. They now fear that they may be unable to find or even afford places in local crèches for the next school year in September.

Many of the parents are unemployed and are currently in receipt of either Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS) grants or funding through the Back to Education scheme.

Those who are in receipt of these schemes currently receive free or low cost childcare.

The crèche in Ballyfermot, and two others in Cabra and Whitehall that are also due to close in July, have been funded by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs through the City of Dublin Vocational Educational College (CDVEC).

The department currently pays the crèche service e170 per week for each full-time place.

New cutbacks announced in last year’s budget, which are being implemented by the department in September, will result in a funding payment of just e145 per week. The CDVEC says the cut in funding means that the crèches are no longer financially viable.

Carleen Keogh (22), from Ballyfermot, is a lone parent of a two-year-old girl who attends the crèche. She is currently studying the first year of a two year Higher National Diploma course in Social Care.

The young mother’s sole means of income is the lone parent’s allowance and children’s allowance.

She fears the closure of the crèche means she will have to abandon her education as she would not be able to afford a modestly priced place in a community crèche.

“This crèche got me on the road to education,

? she said.

“If it wasn’t for this crèche I would still be at home sitting on social welfare, most likely for the rest of my life. I had no intention of going to college but with the help of that crèche it gave me the motivation to go.

“The closure of the crèche means that I have no future now. I can’t complete my second year because the crèche will be closed. I literally cannot afford a place in a private or even a community crèche.

?

She added:

“I just feel disheartened because I put so much effort into all this work over the last few years and now it has literally been taken away from me.

?

She also criticised the CDVEC for announcing the closure of the facility so late in the academic year, as most local crèches are already fully booked.

“We only got the notification about the closure last week and all the local crèches are full up for next September already,

? she said.

Helen Mahony, who is a maths teacher at the school, believes the closure of the crèche will significantly diminish the students’ chances of finding employment.

“Last Friday they were in an absolute state of shock and despair,

? she said.

“It is just crazy that at a time of high unemployment, when people are struggling to get qualifications to be in a position to find jobs, that the crèche is being closed.

?

A spokesperson for the CDVEC said:

“Despite our efforts to adapt in response to this change, the new funding model meant that our crèches were not financially viable and the inevitable but very regrettable decision was made to close them.

?

A spokesperson at the Department of Children said the closure of the crèche was an administrative matter for the VECs in question.

“The precise reason for any particular crèche closure would need to be examined and understood in the context of administrative and staffing costs and other factors,

? the spokesperson said.