Welfare groups demand new childcare rules to tackle crèche crisis

CHILD welfare groups yesterday called for new regulations to be implemented to tackle problems in sub-standard crèches.

The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) said that all revised childcare regulations needed to be implemented as a matter of priority.

The organisation also said the vetting of people wishing to work with children should be placed on a legislative footing.

The calls for action came as concerned parents contacted the Irish Examiner in large numbers yesterday following revelations that more than 300 complaints about crèches were made to health boards in the years 2003 and 2004.

The information was released following a Freedom of Information request.

The ISPCC said a full child protection investigation should take place in situations where child abuse has occurred and that the vetting of people wishing to work with children should be placed on a legislative footing.

“Legislation in this area could enable the establishment of a system through which ‘soft information’ could be recorded and made available within the vetting process,” the ISPCC said in a statement.

“Soft information is information regarding people who are identified as a risk to children but who have not got a criminal conviction for child abuse,” the society said.

The ISPCC said the monitoring of childcare standards on a national level is an important measure in ensuring best practice is adhered to at all times.

“Many of these complaints to the HSE involve basic neglect on the part of childcare facilitators and should, quite simply, never happen in any setting where high standards are employed,” the ISPCC said.

Barnardos questioned whether the responsibility for inspections of crèches should be taken away from the Health Services Executive (HSE) and given to a new, independent body.

The organisation also said more information needed to be readily available to parents.

Meanwhile, the director of services at the National Children’s Nurseries Association (NCNA) said that infrastructure in the childcare structure needed to be improved before any more childcare places are provided by Government.

Catherine Bond said that in many cases a visit by a pre-school inspector was not followed up with a second visit to see if any problems had been addressed.

“The experience of the NCNA is that the inspection process is different in each area,” she said.

“We would like a consistency of approach. Where children are concerned we need more than ‘minimum’ standards.”

At present, no specific minimum standard of training is required to open a crèche, nor do crèches have to register with the NCNA.

“Where there are deficiencies in services we need to work with them to bring them up to a quality standard,” Ms Bond added.