Petition over sale of Laois childcare building

A petition has been launched in a bid to save a playschool places which organisers say are threatened due to the sale of a building in Portlaoise.

SuperKids Childcare Centre in Fairgreen, Portlaoise provides childcare and afterschool for around 90 families and employment to 15 staff in the area. 

SuperKids Manager and owner, Sandra Lobanovska, said she informed parents about the business was closing last Wednesday as the landlord gave her three months' notice on May 14. She said there are no alternative premises available for her to operate her business from the area. 

“It is quite impossible for me to find it. There is no building, there is nothing on offer in Portlaoise,” she said. 

She said the landlord had told her that the business was being sold to another childcare provider but he didn’t reveal who that provider is. 

Ms Lobanovska said the parents and her staff are now left “clueless” as to what to do. She plans to close her business in August and said it will take a provider at least three months to get up and running due to all the necessary checks and regulatory work that will be needed. 

“It will take three months to re-open a new service so maybe January, February,” she said. 

In the meantime, she said the families will be left with nowhere to go. “They are angry about the situation,” she said. 

“My hands are tied. It is not like I am closing willingly,” she said. 

Ms Lobanovska said “the new provider could have come to me and made it seamless”. She said such a transition could be done while her business is in operation, something which would prevent a gap in service for the families and children. 

The Leinster Express/Laois Live contacted the landlord who said he isn’t dealing directly with the new childcare provider but was going through an estate agent. He  said the sale process is ongoing. “They will be ready next week and they will release details then,” he said in relation to the new provider. 

The landlord said the building is to remain in use as a childcare facility and he believes there will be places for the children who are already using the facility. 

“The company involved are going to continue with the crèche,” he explained. 

He wasn’t aware of the petition but said he believed that the service would continue at the building just with a different provider.

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An online petition started by a parent with children in SuperKids has secured over 230 signatures. It called on the Council to step in and buy the buidling in order to safeguard the future of the childcare places in Portlaoise.