Vol. 475 No. 4
28 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for the Environment the guidelines in place for a local authority when considering a planning application for a residential dwelling house to be used or partly used as a child care facility or creche; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4930/97]
No guidelines have been issued to planning authorities regarding the issues to be considered when dealing with planning applications in respect of child care facilities. The consideration of individual planning applications is a matter for the planning authority concerned, in the first instance, or An Bord Pleanála on appeal.
Arising from the report of the Second Commission on the Status of Women, my Department asked each local authority in January 1994 to reexamine their existing practices in relation to creches and child care facilities to ensure that they were in keeping with the findings of the report to the fullest extent possible. The authorities were reminded of the importance of the development plan as a mechanism for setting out a blueprint for the development of residential areas, and all of the associated infrastructure and servicing, to meet the local community's development needs, including the particular needs of women, as identified in the report. In the more recently adopted development plans there is evidence that planning authorities are now making provision in relation to creches in specified areas.
