Residential care home has 25 staff looking after just one child

Catherine Shanahan

A report on the inspection of the residential care unit in the south-east, carried out in May by the Irish Social Services Inspectorate (ISSI), said: "At the time of inspection, a staff team of 25 (including 15 childcare workers, a teacher, housekeeper and administrator) were providing residential care to one young person who went home for two days at the weekend, and after-care to one other young person." The unit has a capacity for five young people.

"In the meantime, the short-term unit could not open because it was four or five short of a full complement of staff. This is a situation that ought not to be allowed to continue," the report said.