Fifty-two childcare services throughout the State have been awarded grant help worth €32.8 million for the further development of creche facilities under the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme.
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr McDowell, said the allocation would lead to 2,544 new childcare places and provide support to 967 existing places.
"The EOCP's original targets aimed to increase the number of childcare places by 50 per cent or about 28,000 new places by the end of 2006. I am happy to say that the total number of new childcare places being created under the programme, as a result of funding allocated to date, now exceeds 36,500," Mr McDowell said.
Mr McDowell admitted the increased demand for childcare in recent years. The Minister said women's participation in the workforce has increased by an estimated 300,000 to over 771,000 in less than ten years.
He said society needed to adapt in a positive way to make provision for the care and development of children.
Mr McDowell said "The level of interest in the development of childcare over the four short years since the EOCP was first announced has been such that the Government has increased the programme's funding package on a number of occasions from the €318 million originally set aside to now reach €499.3 million for the period to the end of the present National Development Plan."
Included in today's announcement, made at the NUI in Maynooth, is an investment of € 5.7 million for the further development of crèche facilities on a number of third-level campuses including €1 million for the crèche at the university in Maynooth.
