HSE finds almost two-thirds of creches in Limerick noncompliant

Almost two-thirds of creches in Limerick county and city were found to be non-compliant under one or more headings by the HSE at the time of inspection, mainly due to a lack of documentation.

The second tranche of HSE creche inspection reports relating to 37 childcare facilities in Limerick city and county were published on the Pobal website yesterday relating to inspections carried out in 2012 and 2013.

This follows the publication on Wednesday of 38 HSE creche inspection reports in the county.

Garda vetting
In the majority of the 75 inspections published to date facilities were non-compliant in relation to issues around a lack of Garda or international police vetting (where staff members had lived in another jurisdiction) or a lack of references or validation of written references for staff members.

In most cases the creche management subsequently wrote to the HSE providing the relevant documentation or informing them that Garda or international police clearance had been sought on behalf of staff members but had not yet been furnished.

In correspondence with the HSE one private childcare provider said she felt her facility being deemed non-compliant in relation to the non-validation of a reference was “very unfair” as the relevant individual did not work with the children and was an emergency contact.

"I think the services on Prime Time [the RTÉ investigation aired in May] were shocking and I would hate to think because of this unfair non-compliance that people may get the wrong idea about my service. I am very upset about this," she wrote.

The decision to publish creche inspection reports followed on from a Prime Time investigation which was aired on RTÉ earlier this year showing alleged mistreatment of children in three creches in Dublin and Wicklow.

Minister for Children Francis Fitzgerald earlier this week said new standards for creche inspections would be established in September with an emphasis on the importance of the relationships children experience while in the childcare setting.

More reports are expected
to be published on http://maps.pobal.ie/#
early next week.