No meals cooked at children’s home during dispute

CONVENIENCE food replaced home cooking and there was no cleaning or housekeeping carried out in a home for troubled children during an industrial relations dispute.

An inspection of the home, in Ballydowd, south Co Dublin, found serious differences between management and staff across a range of issues, and that these differences “impacted on the standard of care provided to the young people”.

The Social Services Inspectorate was told structural defects were becoming apparent and the bedrooms of several of the young people were of an “unacceptable standard” requiring immediate attention to bring them up to a basic level of comfort.