400 families have ‘nowhere to bring children on Monday’ after five local childcare centres close overnight

Up to 400 families in West Clare have been left without childcare from Monday after five childcare centres closed down unexpectedly overnight.

Mary O’Donoghue, Co-ordinator of West Clare Family Resource Centre in Kilrush, spoke to Independent.ie about the closures, which have come as a shock to 53 staff and 400 families.

“The first thing is that nobody knows exactly why this has happened. The first everybody heard of it was yesterday”.

“I understand that 53 staff were informed by text message… basically told not to show up on Monday”.

She told Independent.ie that “over 400 families have lost access to childcare in West Clare” as a result of the closures. These five ‘Early Years’ centres were the only “subsidised services” in the area, leaving only private childcare facilities behind.

Read the full story on the Irish Independent here