Funding sought to address failures at €1m creche

Funding has been sought to address failures at a €1m creche in Mallow which has already landed County Cork VEC into difficulty.

The Kiddieland creche in Mallow was found to be in breach of five regulations when Health Service Executive inspectors visited in February.

It was short-staffed; its agency workers had not been Garda vetted; and it lacked a secure outdoor play area that had been a condition of its planning permission.

Inspectors also said there was a lack of protection for babies from roaming toddlers.

However, a follow-up inspection team was told a number of steps had been taken, and will be taken, to ensure the creche meets the required standard in future.

Funding has been applied for to deliver the outdoor play area which was supposed to be available when it opened, the inspectors were told.

Extra staff have been hired from the agency to make sure there is sufficient cover. This was required because a baby was left sleeping unchecked for more than an hour during the first check-up.

Staff have been reminded of the centre’s sleep policy; improved communication with parents has been established; and Garda vetting has been applied for.

However, additional staff and investment in the facilities will put additional pressure on the loss-making facility.

Since it opened, it has not attracted the 50 children its business plan envisaged and on the day of the inspection only nine children were attending.

Already this year, CCVEC has suggested that it will look to allow the creche to be run by a private contractor.

However, this is likely to anger former customers in Fermoy who lost their VEC creche to shore up the finances of the Mallow operation.

The creche in Fermoy was reported to be making money but its staff were made redundant in order to consolidate services in the new Mallow facility.

Separately, the Mallow creche has been dogged by controversy since it emerged that CCVEC had secured unauthorised borrowings from the local credit union to bridge a €200,000 budget shortfall.

This was to be paid back over 20 years, by way of an extended lease, at a total cost of €431,000.

It later decided not to draw down the money but this left the facility unfinished and unable to meet the regulatory standards.

The Department of Education has demanded answers from CCVEC on the nature of the lease and a series of unauthorised funding arrangements it set up to develop the creche and the adjoining youthreach premises.