Child carer ‘withheld food from toddlers’

A childcare worker was sacked after complaints that she had withheld food and drink from toddlers, was rough with them, and threatened them.

Mary McNulty shouted at the children, lifted and dragged them, left one child without a coat on a cold day, and used a noisy hand dryer as a threat to a toddler who was terrified of the machine, the Employment Appeals Tribunal heard.

The tribunal was also told by a co-worker at Ballyheane Buttercups Community Childcare Service in Ballyheane, Co Mayo, that Ms McNulty had recorded a child crying on her phone and played the recording for other children to view.