Expansion approved for Leitrim childcare facility amid soaring demand

Fenagh Childcare has been granted planning permission for a new childcare facility that will cater for up to 62 children amid an increasing demand for childcare in Leitrim.

The new facility, located at Commons, will include a formal entrance, reception and hallway, a toddler room with two toilets, one sleep room, a baby changing area, and a milk kitchen room. 

It will also feature a classroom for children aged three to six years with two toilets, a breakfast room, and after-school rooms with three attached toilets. 

Additional facilities will include a kitchen, utility room, canteen, buggy store room, plant room, and toy room. 

The plans also provide for one disabled and staff toilet, another toilet accessible from the external play area, a new stone bellmouth entrance with piers and walls, internal roads and turning heads within the development, car parking, three external play areas with security fencing, a bin storage area, signage, connection to the sewer, and associated site works.

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The childcare facility will operate from Monday to Friday and offer full day care for 14 places, sessional preschool for 11 places, after-school care for 48 places, and a breakfast club for 12 places.

It was noted in the application that there is strong demand for the services, as the preschool is full for 2025 with eight children on the waiting list, full for 2026 with 18 on the waiting list, and full for 2027 with seven on the waiting list.

“The applicant has noted that they are not able to service the demand received at present.

“It is a tenet of economics that an increase in demand leads to an increase of prices.

“An increase of supply is required in the locality to service child care needs, and to counter the rise in living prices (including childcare) that every person across the county is finding.”

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Three full-time staff and seven part-time staff have been proposed for the facility.

Planning permission was granted by Leitrim County Council on October 2, attached with 16 conditions. 

Among these is a condition stating that the childcare facility shall not be converted to any other use without a prior grant of planning permission in the event of the facility ceasing operations. 

The developer must also ensure that the development conforms to the principles of universal design and takes cognisance of the needs of persons with mobility, sensory, or intellectual impairments.

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