Fitzgerald: HSE's creche reports to be online within months

The Children's Minister Frances Fitzgerald has promised that the HSE inspection reports into creches will be made available online within months.

She also said the issues highlighted in last night's expose on creches "cuts to the bone".

There has been widespread condemnation of the incidents caught on camera by an undercover Prime Time reporter.

The Children's Ombudsman is writing to the HSE to discuss the regulation of the childcare industry after children were seen strapped into chairs for hours, manhandled and shouted and sworn at in two Dublin creches and one in Wicklow.

Minister Fitzgerald admits she found the documentary very distressing.

She said: "I was so upset seeing the ignoring of some of the basic child development issues that we know so well.

"I was very upset to see the mattresses and the young children, I was very concerned at the rough handling I saw and the language that was used and really the lack of awareness of the development needs of children

"As a parent that cuts to the bone really for any parent watching."