The Department of Children has intervened in the proposed closure of a Co Limerick creche, raising concerns the plan would “significantly” worsen a shortage of childcare places locally. In an effort to treat childcare as critical infrastructure, the Government is going to step in more regularly in cases where creches are either closing or being converted into other purposes. Although the Department of Children is already free to submit observations to planning applications, it is understood it will now take a more proactive interest in any planning decision that could further reduce childcare places amid a national shortage. A proposal brought forward this year will give the Minister more authority to object to developers who try to turn much-needed creches into residential housing.The owner of the Tiny Friends Creche in Mungret, Co Limerick, has applied for planning permission to convert its existing childcare facility into five apartments. It is part of an overall plan to build a new five-storey apartment building with another 13 units at the same site. Limerick City and County Council is due to make a decision on the application this month. Initially, families of the 80 children attending the childcare facility had been told the service would continue for another year. However, it is now planned to close Tiny Friends at the end of this month. There are no plans to include a childcare facility in the redevelopment of the same site.A spokesman for creche owners Suarte Limited said it was closing its childcare facility due to family health reasons and the unsustainability of State funding of childcare. The childcare provider said all staff had found alternative employment and all children had found new childcare placements. In June, Suarte Limited applied to the council to redevelop the site, which includes the former Mungret Girls School, a protected structure, into housing. In an observation submitted to the local authority, the Department of Children said that according to its own data “there is an undersupply of early learning and childcare places for one to four-year-olds in the surrounding area”. “The existing service can serve up to 90 children. Removal of this service would therefore significantly contribute to the already existing undersupply of childcare in the locality,” it said. “Population projections analysed by the department also suggest continuing demand in the Limerick area into the future for one and two-year-old children in particular.”The observation said that although Minister for Children Norma Foley was “strongly supportive” of additional housing, she “would like to express her concern regarding the change of use of the existing early learning and childcare building at Mungret and resultant loss of early learning and childcare places, with no indication of replacement provision outlined in the application”.Demand for childcare is expected to grow as a number of large-scale housing developments are either planned or under way in Mungret. Last month, the Land Development Agency announced construction had started on 183 affordable and social homes in the area.The plan includes a creche and community space, which will be developed by the approved housing body Clúid.