One year on from shocking creche exposé, nothing has changed — Start Strong
The undercover report raised serious concerns about the level of care being offered in some crèches, featuring scenes of children being manhandled, shouted at and restrained.
Yet Ciairín de Buis, director of Start Strong, said despite pledges at the time to overhaul the sector, those hopes had not been met.
“One year ago, the country was shocked by scenes of children being mistreated in crèches,” she said.
“Despite this, very little has happened to improve the situation.
“Parents here pay some of the highest costs for childcare in the world, but as PrimeTime showed, it is no guarantee that they are getting the highest quality.
“No child should be in a poor quality service.
“The Government needs to invest more in our young children and their early education.”
Other issues raised in the programme included a lack of inspection, breaches of regulations and a shortage of measures to deal with non-compliance with rules.
Start Strong — which is a coalition of groups focussed on children’s early care and education — said many of the same problems persist one year on, while parents struggle to cover the cost of childcare.
“The problem of low wages, poor working conditions and insufficient numbers of trained staff is still widespread and needs to be addressed,” Ms De Buis said.
“There are still areas without preschool inspectors and while all staff will be required to have a Level 5 qualification from September 2015, this is still far below what is considered internationally to be best practice.”
Start Strong called on the new Children’s Minister Charlie Flanagan to publish a draft of the new National Early Years Strategy as soon as possible to allow for maximum consultation, backed with “political will and significant investment to bring about real change”.
* www.startstrong.ie
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