The IDA has committed to provide adequate support services for working parents, writes Lorna Siggins.
Twinkle lights over cots, mirrors on walls and ceilings, ballet bars, mobiles and multi-coloured floor mats... that's just the baby unit in The Ark in Galway, one of the first new nurseries backed by IDA Ireland.
Opened last month by the Minister of State for Health and Children, Brian Lenihan, the Ark Early Years Care and Education Centre at Parkmore is the second in a series of childcare facilities now being provided by IDA Ireland.
The landmark initiative - the first of its type by an Irish State agency - is an integral part of development of "flagship" international business parks.
"Quality-of-life considerations" are becoming "much more prominent in the minds of international investors when assessing locations for new investment", the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, explained when she announced details of the IDA's strategy back in March 2002.
Six existing IDA business parks were identified for the first phase - Blanchardstown, Dublin; Garrycastle, Athlone, Co Westmeath; the new Technology Park in Waterford; Carrigtwohill, Cork; Parkmore in Galway; and Finisklin, Sligo.
Under this first phase, five successful applicants were selected for Athlone, Galway, Tullamore, Kilkenny and Cork, and all were given the opportunity to purchase a site from the authority under specific conditions.
Tenders for a second phase are currently being considered, and the first nursery, Grovelands Childcare, was opened by the Tánaiste in Athlone last October, under the ownership and management of Regina Bushell.
Further west, Veronica Stephens provided some 40 per cent of the funding for the €1.1 million Ark creche at the Galway Business and Technology Park - directly opposite the Ballybrit Racecourse at Parkmore.
The purpose-built unit is designed to accommodate 108 full day care places and up to 35 staff when fully booked.
The admissions policy extends from three-month-old babies to after-school children up to the age of eight.
The building draws on natural light for its extensive play areas which have been fitted with low-level portholes, flexible partitions, soft furnishings, under-floor heating and warm colour contrasts.
It has a sensory and music room, a separate room for its "out-of- school club" for older children and a garden.
The Ark has its own chef who provides breakfast buffets, snacks, vegetarian lunches and teas.
Nappies, dance classes, language tutors, nutritional expertise and even hairdressing are included in the weekly cost to parents.
An in-house curriculum for pre-schoolers is split into two stages - "Little Explorers" and "Big Discoverers" - incorporating six key areas for children's learning and development.
Female participation in the Irish workforce is set to rise to 60 per cent, the IDA's regional director for the west/mid-west, Emmanuel Dowdall, noted at the opening of the facility, and there is a projected rise of almost 30 per cent in demand for childcare facilities.
Adequate support services for working parents was vital to the authority's policy on more balanced industrial development, Dowdall said.
The IDA says its Cork nursery will cater for over 100 children when it opens next month, and over 70 children should be accommodated at the new nursery at the Kilkenny Business and Technology Park, also due to open shortly.