|
The Ballymun Childcare Action Plan was launched by the Minister for State, with Special Responsibility for Children, Mr. Brian Lenihan, TD on Monday 22nd of September 2003.
Before the plan was oficially launched in front of an invited audience, the Minister mixed with about 250 children attending a puppet & magic show provided by the Partnership at the AXIS Theatre.
|
|
|
Declan Dunne, Minister Noel Aherne, Minister Brian Lenihan with the children at the AXIS Theatre.
|
Declan Dunne, Noreen Hayes, Minister Brian Lenihan, Anne Keating.
|
The plan is an initiative of the Ballymun Partnership and the Ballymun Childcare Task Force to address the needs of children, their parents and childcare services in the area over the course of a 5-year period. The Task Force was set up by Ballymun Partnership as a result of a local study on the level of childcare provision for families with young children in the area. At that time there were 27 childcare services offering just over 600 childcare places to parents locally. It was anticipated that a further 400 places was required.
With positive inward investment since then, a total of 1,347 children are now in pre-school and after-school services in Ballymun. However, a recent area profile study conducted by the Partnership, at the end of 2002, identified that between 1600 and 1800 childcare places is a more realistic requirement overall for the area.
|
|
Ballymun Partnership members of the board (L to R):
Michael Creedon, Hugh Greeves, Ollie Mc Glinchey & Anne Keating.
|
Commenting on this new found need for Ballymun families, Declan Dunne, Chief Executive Officer of Ballymun Partnership said: "The upsurge in the numbers of Ballymun people taking up training and employment between the period 1998 and 2002 alone is a contributing factor to the rising number of childcare places required. Also, the Regeneration Programme itself brings with it an estimated 700 new homes, on top of the ones that already exist, and new families means more numbers of children requiring childcare services."
The Ballymun Childcare Action Plan sets out steps to achieve adequate childcare provision as well as a number of other family support initiatives that go beyond the need for childcare places. Working with state agencies such as Dublin City Council and the Northern Area Health Board and the Local Drugs Task Force to develop family supports for the greater development of the child and family is a primary objective within the plan. "Childhood development is the key to educational prospects and quality of life", added Declan Dunne, and Ballymun Partnership has set both childcare and education as priorities in going forward with the next phase of its own Action Plan, 2001 to 2006.
|
|
Councillor Sheila Gollogly, Bernadette O' Donoghue & Declan Dunne at the launch of the one-stop shop.
|
Speaking as Chairperson of the Childcare Task Force, about the plan, Nirn Hayes said: "At the centre of our work on this plan, was a respect for the rights and needs of young children and their families. The sentiment of Graham Greene's quote on the front cover of our plan is a living one for us, which states that there is always a moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in. I believe this plan opens up a better future for the children and families in Ballymun."
|
