IT crèche closure due to uncertainty over funding and lack of ‘additional paperwork’
By Aura McMenamin
The IT Tallaght crèche Fledglings closed due to uncertainty over funding, according to the minutes of a meeting with students and college officials, as seen by The Echo.
It was also revealed during the meeting that the child care provider failed to provide additional necessary paperwork when applying for the tender, according to college officials.
The college announced in July that Fledglings créche had lost the bid to tender the service, despite operating in the college for seven years.
The college refused to state the criteria that Fledglings failed to meet for weeks, saying it was ‘commercially sensitive’.
College officials met with student parents for the first time since the saga that left dozens of students facing the possibility of deferring a year of college began last month.
Previous meetings on the issue were held by student union sabbaticals and open to public representatives and Fledglings staff. However, this meeting was expressly for students only.
During the meeting, college reps cited three main issues that led to the college not granting the tender.
According to the minutes taken at the meeting and seen by The Echo, the college was unsure of what government funding they would receive, which caused uncertainty with regards to the upcoming budget.
The college said they were also delayed by the unavailability of any relevant members of college staff being available for tender inquiries from incoming applicants.
However, according to a student who attended the meeting, the college also put the blame ‘squarely’ on Fledglings, who they say failed to supply additional documentation which they said they requested in due time.
Attempts to contact a representative of Fledglings for a comment went unanswered as we went to press.
In a statement on the childcare facilities page on the ITT website, the college states that they intend to undertake the procurement from this month and ‘expect to be in a position to appoint a provider to re-open the crèche in January 2018’.
They state: “The Institute will continue, in the interim, to financially support qualifying students, by contributing to the cost of childcare in statutorily approved crèche facilities and/or child-minders registered and approved by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.”
The student who attended the meeting told The Echo: “As a result of Tuesday’s meeting the parents and staff are still no more aware as to why the ITT board decided to close a vital onsite service.
“As students with children we are being penalised and now face the real prospect of having to defer or dropout of college altogether.”
IT Tallaght SU president Jason Kavanagh organised previous meetings with students and Fledglings staff, as well as with college officials.
He explained that while ‘nothing’ was concrete, he was optimistic since a meeting between Tallaght TD and Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone and the college had occurred.
Minister Zappone tweeted that she had met with college officials and Pobal, a non-profit which manages social projects in disadvantaged areas on behalf of the government, on Tuesday night: “Working closely with @pobal to resolve childcare issue in @itttallaght Progress being made. Update midweek.”
