Plans drawn up for €1m Irish language childcare centre
Draft plans have been drawn up for a €1m Irish language childcare centre, whose development was scuppered 10 years ago by the economic downturn.
The centre, including a creche, pre-school, and after-school facilities, is planned for Baile Mhic Íre in the Cork Gaeltacht.
A public meeting in the village was told that developer Michael Murnane had offered to donate a site within the unfinished Cluain Réidh housing estate, where planning permission was granted for 20 homes.
The village is set to become increasingly attractive to Cork City commuters, with the scheduled completion, by 2023, of the N22 Macroom-Baile Mhúirne bypass. The provision of a childcare facility is likely to further enhance the village’s appeal.
Auctioneer Michael Creedon said 16 out of 19 houses have been sold. The three- and four-bedroomed, semi-detached and detached houses, for which turnkey development was granted permission in September, will, he said, satisfy housing demand in the village.
However, there is a possibility of applications being made for 15 more homes at Cluain Réidh, subject to future demand.
Mr Creedon said: “I think it will definitely be looked at as a kind of a commuter town for Cork City, because you have a lot of people who want to live in the country, in a Gaeltacht, and want their kids to grow up through the medium of Irish, so, with a childcare facility through the medium of Irish, primary school in Irish, secondary school in Irish, it’s going to be very attractive once the bypass is built.”
Land is also set to be made available for an astroturf pitch, opposite the proposed childcare facility, on the existing N22, which runs through the villages of Baile Mhic Íre and Baile Mhúirne.
The astroturf site borders the housing estate and Coláiste Ghobnatan secondary school. The latter will have use of the pitch by day, with the community using it after school.
The plans were welcomed at a packed public meeting in the Abbey Hotel, where members of the community formed a committee to steer the development of the childcare facility.
Grett O’Connor, manager of local development co-operative, Comharchumann Forbartha Mhúscraí, said the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht offered funding of up to 95% for the building of childcare centres run through Irish in Gaeltacht areas.
A draft plan for a 4,480ft sq ft, single-storey building was shown at the meeting.
Ms O’Connor said: “It’s up to our local committee to decide what we want in that childcare centre. What we’re hoping is that all our childcare needs will be under one roof. We’ll have a creche, a toddlers’ section, a preschool, and we’re hoping we’ll have after-school, as well. We have the possibility of creating something really special for the community.”
