NI 'must get after-school money'

Education Minister Ruth Kelly outlined the plans

Plans for a massive expansion of out-of-school provision should be extended to Northern Ireland, a leading children's group has urged.

PlayBoard said about 200 out-of-school clubs were under threat of closure because of a lack of funding.

It said European and lottery money had almost run out and the government had not earmarked any specific funding.

The group said NI's voluntary out-of-school sector was now "in real danger of being virtually wiped out".

"It is a cruel irony that Ruth Kelly is announcing expansion of such provision in England, while almost all voluntary out of school clubs here are struggling to survive," said chief executive Marguerite Hunter Blair.

"We urgently need some of that cash."

The government is putting £680m into encouraging more schools in England to set up breakfast and after-school clubs.

There are 237 voluntary out-of-school clubs in Northern Ireland.

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If the clubs closed, hundreds of parents could be forced to give up their jobs, said PlayBoard.

The parents who would lose their jobs were those on low incomes who could least afford to do so, said Ms Hunter Blair.

"Northern Ireland has the highest rate of child poverty in the UK. Our after school clubs are helping to tackle that problem - so why is the government forcing so many clubs in Northern Ireland to close"?

SDLP education spokesman Dominic Bradley said the Treasury had plenty of resources to put into education in England while education in Northern Ireland was "being starved of resources".

"This announcement puts salt in the wound in Northern Ireland where important services are being cut and resources are not available to pay teachers and classroom assistants," he said.

"The £680m being pumped into breakfast and after school clubs in England only serves to underscore the dire situation here regarding funding of the education system."