A community playgroup in Raphoe in Co Donegal is facing closure because of defective concrete blocks.
The cracks in the walls of the Raphoe Community Playgroup building have been growing at a concerning rate in recent weeks and the engineer who has been monitoring the building since the problem was confirmed 18 months ago has said the group will have to close its doors when it breaks for the summer in June.
Manager Fiona McCrabbe said they were devastated to be told that the building will have to be demolished. Under the current redress scheme for buildings affected by defective blocks, the childcare facility does not qualify for any funding to knock and rebuild it because it is not a home.
Ms McCrabbe believes this is discriminatory, as do parents of children attending the centre who say the Government has a responsibility in relation to childcare and needs to step in to help maintain a fantastic service which has been an integral part of the community for about 40 years.
Colin Kilpatrick, who has four sons, said he does not want his youngest boy, who is due to start in September, to lose out on the great education his brothers have benefited from. He said this is about the future of children and the Government should not deny them that future.
Parents fundraised for the current building, which was officially opened by President Mary McAleese, and they say they will do as much as they can for a new building, but Mr Kilpatrick said times are difficult financially for families and they need State support.
An donation page has been set up with the aim of raising a million euro to build a new premises on the same site as the crumbling building, but parent and committee member Veronica Devenney said she knows it is not realistic to think the community can raise this on its own.
She said she worries when her daughter goes into the playgroup and it saddens her that she now talks about cracks in the walls rather than the great things she has done or created during her day.
Some children also live in homes affected by mica, she said, and the playgroup is supposed to be a safe place for them.
Ms Devenney said public representatives should visit the building and meet the children in what is a vital service in the community and help to resolve the problem.
It is a problem that has happened through no fault of those involved in the playgroup, Ms McCrabbe said. They bought the blocks in good faith like many other people and now they are crumbling.
She is on the look out now for a temporary building from next September. Two offers have been made but one has other activities going on one day a week and the other would need work in relation to facilities such as toilets. They would also have to be approved by Tusla and meet all their regulations.
Time is tight but Ms McCrabbe said she has promised the families of the 46 children attending that she will not let them down. However, with no alternative playgroup spaces available locally, there is a worry for parents that their children will not have a place to go to after the summer break.
