Longford County Childcare welcomes Minister Zappone’s announcement of €1.2m capital grants for 263 providers of School Age Childcare

Thursday 17th August, 2017

Longford County Childcare are delighted to announce that County Longford has received a total of €26,636 in School Aged Childcare Funding. Lorraine Farrell, Coordinator of Longford County Childcare stated “We are delighted that 60% of our Longford applicants were successful with this strand. This aims to improve the overall quality of school age care in County Longford and well done to all the successful applicants”.

The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr. Katherine Zappone, announced, earlier today, total funding of €1.2m (strand c) of the School Age Childcare Capital Scheme to improve existing school age childcare services throughout the country. This follows the recent announcement of funding of €2.7m under Strands A and B for new and existing services to increase the number of childcare places that they provide.

Minister Zappone stated “I am determined to support childcare providers in their mission to deliver quality childcare to all our children.  I am also determined to listen to children in terms of what they want. This funding of €1.2m is specifically targeted at improving the quality of existing school age childcare services, which was one of the key actions of the Action Plan on School Age Childcare, published in March of this year. This will be done through the provision of age appropriate play equipment to stimulate children mentally and physically.   With 263 individual projects set to be funded, our children right across the country will reap the benefits. This demonstrates my commitment to provide quality and affordable childcare for school age children.”