'Questions need to be answered' on €600K funding loss

The Kilcullen Carer & Toddler Group - Kilcullen Carers - has called for 'questions to be answered' over the loss of the €600,000 funding for the Naomh Bride Community Playgroup's proposed new premises, writes Brian Byrne.

This follows a pre-Christmas statement from the directors of the playgroup's company, Kilcullen Community Childcare & Education Ltd, that it had been refused further extension on time to draw down its grant for a purpose-built premises which had been pursued since 2001 and for which the grant had been approved in 2006.

The reason for the withdrawal of the grant was given as the failure of the project to secure a lease on the property which had been earmarked at the Kilcullen Community Centre campus for the new premises.

The playgroup has been operating on the site for much of the last decade in a pre-fab premises provided by the late Pat Dunlea as a temporary measure.

Expressing their regret that the project would not be going ahead, the playgroup's directors said that despite obtaining several extensions to the deadline from the funders, the lease for the site on which the childcare centre was to be built 'and the written consent to sublease', were not provided to the group within the deadline, 'which had been clearly communicated to all relevant parties'.

In a letter to be published in the next 'Bridge' magazine, Lyn B Worrall of Kilcullen Carers & Toddlers Group says they are 'extremely disappointed' at the situation.

"This Centre would have provided parents and children with an expanded high quality, affordable Childcare and Early Education facility within our community," she writes. "As a group of parents, we are left with many questions regarding the loss of the grant funding. The overriding question is why? Why was the lease not provided on time? Why was this huge investment that would have provided a great community-based service for the children of Kilcullen and increased employment in our community during the construction and on an ongoing basis, allowed to evaporate?"

A spokesman for Kilcullen Community Centre told the Diary today that a 'sublease' had been signed with the directors of the project, as the property of the campus was itself only held on lease from the trustees of the Cross & Passion Sisters.

He said that while solicitors for the playgroup and for the Community Centre had been in contact with each other on the matter, there had been 'side issues' in relation to the lease.

Lynn Worrall says Kilcullen Carers believe the questions need to be 'considered on a community-wide level' so that any future issues may be addressed for the benefit of all members of the community.