"That this council supports the recommendations of the Family Resource Centre National Forum - Ireland's largest network of community childcare providers - following on from compliance visits from Pobal which are resulting in already stretched community childcare centres having to alter and even close down their valuable services as funding is taken back based on children's individual absences and attendance.  This could have serious consequences for the childcare services of Quarryvale FRC and the other two FRCs with childcare services in our county: Ballyboden and St. Kevin's, Kilnamanagh.  Childcare is an important link in the family support work carried out by FRCs, as is evidenced by the fact that three of the four FRCs in our county provide this service.

"We recommend the following five proposals to be urgently implemented in the subvention process if more of us are to avoid reductions of services or possible closure of our centres.

1. An one hour’s grace period at the beginning and at the end of any part-time, full-time and  sessional placement
2. As is the case with primary schools, a minimum of 22 days absence allowed for every child; it is worth noting that childcare services usually have the children for more weeks than schools do.
3. A change of the compliance month from November to January.
4. Recompense for the many voluntary managed community childcare services that will have to close if the current compliance reports are allowed to stand.
5. Department officials to work with community projects to help them review and identify their true unit costs to ensure future sustainability of our voluntary managed, not for profit, community childcare services.

We commit to writing to the Minister for Children for consideration and the Manager of QFRC to express our suupport ’’