Childcare failures highlighted in damning report

A report on pre-schools, nurseries, creches, and day- care centres has found that children had access to dangerous materials, that some centres were damp and rodent-infested, and that there were several instances where staff did not receive Garda clearance to work with children.

Published by child and family agency Tusla, the report found that while most early year services were compliant with regulations, nearly 14% of over 3,000 inspection reports found pre-schools failed to meet standards.

The report, which studied the findings of inspections carried out from January 2012 to May 2013, found: