150 on waiting list for childcare services in Mohill

Cllr Enda Stenson sought the support of the members of Leitrim County Council in calling on Minister Roderic O'Gorman, to provide a proper source of funding to community groups to enable them to acquire or fund the purchase of premises, needed at present, to cope with the current demand for childcare.
Cllr Stenson said that a childcare facility was needed "urgently but it has to be funded; how can groups fund them otherwise?"
He said there are “150 on a waiting list now in Mohill for that childcare facility.”
A nationwide survey recently found that parents could be waiting up to three years for a creche place for their child and 220 creches around the country found that just 35% of areas currently have creche places available.
Cllr Mary Bohan supported the motion saying the demand for childcare is “one of the most pressing issues at the moment. Parents are putting their children's names on a list before they are even born and that's happening everywhere in the county.”
She said she spoke to two nurses who are currently on maternity leave and “don't know what they are going to do when they go back to work.”
Cllr Felim Gurn said that childcare is “a huge issue on the doorsteps where one parent may have to stay at home in a situation where they have a big mortgage to pay and they are looking at us to come up with solutions. There will have to be funding for childcare facilities.”
He added that “grandparents are now having to step in” due to the lack of services.
Cllr Paddy Farrell also supported the motion and said the childcare costs have spiralled in recent years.
Cllr Des Guckian said there is “a childcare crisis in Ireland at the moment” and that some childcare providers are considering closing down due to issues such as “a shortage of funding; the amount that each facility gets per child has not increased in years.”
Cllr Padraig Fallon and Cllr Brendan Barry also supported the motion with Cllr Barry saying that he knew of someone whose child has been on a waiting list for three years.
He added, "there are a lot of very good childminders in Leitrim who are not registered and providing a very good service. There is talk of the department forcing them to register and all the additional paperwork, etc. that will be forced upon them; I'm hearing a lot of them will withdraw from providing those services if this happens.”
Cllr Sean McDermott and Cllr Sean McGowan also supported the motion with Cllr McGowan saying that those providing the service are at “their wit's end trying to keep the facility going.”