Parents Plan Protest to Save Little Wonders in Castleblayney
Parents have set up a campaign group and plan a public protest in Castleblayney next week over the proposed closure of Little Wonders. The service for children with complex needs faces closure on 22 December without more HSE funding.
By the Monaghan Brief staff·Edited by Seamus McKenna·Published · 2 min read
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Lough Muckno, Castleblayney. Archive location photograph; not a photo of the events in this story. Giorgio Galeotti · CC BY 4.0. Resized and colour-graded; cropped in layout.
A public protest is planned in Castleblayney next week over the proposed closure of Little Wonders, a service for children with additional complex needs.
Northern Sound reports that parents have set up a campaign group to save the service, which offers afterschool, a Saturday Club and holiday camps. Parent Aoife Cunningham told the station that Little Wonders will close its doors on 22 December if sufficient funding is not secured by then. She said the closure is due to insufficient HSE funding and that the HSE needs to step in.
The Anglo-Celt reported last week that 25 families could be at risk of losing after-school support. It said Little Wonders moved to a larger premises during the summer to increase capacity, and earlier this year won Outstanding Small to Medium Business at the inaugural Anglo-Celt Monaghan Business and Tourism Awards.
The exact date and time of the protest had not been published when we checked. See also our earlier report.
Sources
This article is an original summary based on the following reporting. We encourage readers to visit the original sources for full coverage.
Little Wonders, a Castleblayney after-school service for children with additional needs, faces closure in December because of a lack of HSE funding, Northern Sound reports. Mother Ciara Cunningham says families would lose 'a lifeline'.
The R181 Castleblayney to Keady road at Killygola can close for up to two weeks between Monday 26 October and Friday 28 November. The signposted diversion runs about 30km via the R182, Newtownhamilton and the A29.
A driver was clocked at 140km/h in a 100km/h zone on the N2 at Castleblayney during the October bank holiday operation. Gardaí made 218 drink and drug driving arrests and caught 4,842 drivers speeding nationally.
