Vol. 520 No. 1
343 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when a grant will be sanctioned for the extension of a Montessori/naíonra pre-school to a person (details supplied) in County Limerick in view of the need to have work completed by the beginning of the new school year in September 2000. [14993/00]
I am conscious of the need to process the applications made under the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-06 in a timely fashion to facilitate the development of child care service provision. The equal opportunities child care section in my Department has received over 3,000 requests for application forms under the capital and staffing grant schemes which I announced on 28 April.
Each application submitted to my Department must go through an appraisal process before a decision can be made. In relation to the named person referred to by the Deputy, an application form was issued at the start of May from the equal opportunities child care section to that address. No completed application form from the named person has been received in the Department as of today. In that light, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further on the matter.
