More than 1,300 childcare places are being created in province

The grants are being awarded to 16 projects under the New Opportunities Fund's Out of School Hours childcare programme.

The awards, announced on Wednesday, have been made to projects in Belfast, Armagh, Omagh, Fermanagh, Cookstown, Coleraine, Ballymoney, and Craigavon.

More than �9.2m has been invested to create 13,800 childcare places across Northern Ireland since the programme opened in 1999.

The fund is also announcing the first awards from a new grant programme that aims to improve childcare provision.

The Building Quality Childcare programme will invest �6m lottery cash into supporting the costs of projects aimed mainly for pre-school children.

It not only benefits children by improving their life and social skills but also generates economic benefits by supporting parents into work, education and training. Briege Gadd

Grants totalling �567,411 have been awarded to nine projects across the province to create outdoor play areas where none existed before, construct new buildings and equipment and to pay for the refurbishment of existing premises.

Workers in each health board area are helping groups apply for funding under this new grant programme.

'Landmark'

Briege Gadd of the New Opportunities Fund said: "I am delighted that the fund is supporting the development of good quality, new pre-school childcare facilities and enabling those already in existence to improve the quality of their environment and meet the needs of parents across Northern Ireland."

She said it was a "further landmark" in the process of creating the range of childcare places needed in Northern Ireland.

The Out of School Hours programme "helps close the opportunity gap and lift families out of poverty", she added.

"It not only benefits children by improving their life and social skills but also generates economic benefits by supporting parents into work, education and training."