Extra childcare places are being made available in Northern Ireland with the aid of �9m of National Lottery funding.

The lottery's New Opportunities Fund is giving out extra grants to provide new childcare places for up to three years.

Part of the funding will also support the cost of projects to meet the needs of pre-school children in disadvantaged areas of the province.

Fund spokesman Walter Rader said the additional support was excellent news for childcare providers.

"The fund is committed to providing good quality, affordable and accessible childcare," he said.

"This important programme development will help us to ensure the sustainability of provision in the most disadvantaged areas."

Application

He said the current programme had already provided start-up funding for nearly 4,000 new childcare places.

Childcare partnership development workers will work with communities to identify if there is a need for new childcare places and to help with the application process.

Susan Mullan, project co-ordinator at Oakleaf Community Network in County Londonderry, welcomed news of the extension of the grant.

She said: "This is great news for projects like ours in rurally isolated and deprived areas.

"In the most deprived areas it is sometimes difficult to become sustainable within one year so the chance to apply for further funding is vital.

"It will ensure that every project will be able to aim to provide good quality affordable childcare for those who need it most."

Development

The New Opportunities Fund distributes National Lottery money to health, education and environment projects across the UK.

Funding for programmes is divided between England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales on the basis of population weighted to reflect levels of deprivation.

Other parts of the new childcare programme are currently being developed and will be launched later in the summer.

The new childcare programme is part of the new policy directions given to the New Opportunities Fund by the Department of Culture Media and Sport, the fund's sponsoring department.