Rise in public concerns over childcare services made to Tusla

Tusla has responsibility for registering and inspecting preschools, playgroups, nurseries, crèches, day-care and other services for children aged 0-6 years.

The number of notification of incidents to Tusla's Early Years Inspectorate almost doubled between 2017 and 2019, with the number of pieces of unsolicited information received by the watchdog increasing at the same rate.

A new report by the Child and Family Agency, which analyses trends in the sector over the years 2017 to 2019 inclusive, found the majority of childcare suppliers inspected over the three-year period were broadly compliant with regulations, but that "levels of compliance that assess the safety, health and wellbeing of children and the management of recruitment required improvement".

Tusla, through the Early Years Inspectorate, has responsibility for registering and inspecting preschools, playgroups, nurseries, crèches, day-care and other services for children aged 0-6 years, while the inspectorate must monitor the safety, quality of care and developmental support. At the end of 2019, there were 4,310 early years services registered in Ireland and almost 3,000 reports (2,946) were analysed.

According to the report, between 2017 and 2019, Tusla received and managed a 215% increase in concerns from the public about services and the number of notifications of incidences almost doubled. "This does not necessarily indicate an increase in concerns but rather reflects an increase in awareness of the standards and knowledge of how to address concerns or issues," the report says.

The report analysed notifications of incidences received in 2017 and found they fell into four main categories: serious injury to a pre-school child that requires immediate medical treatment by a registered medical practitioner whether in hospital or otherwise (131); child diagnosed with a notifiable infectious disease (28); unplanned closure where the service has to close due to unforeseen events (28); and child missing from the service (11).

Tusla report found there was still relatively high levels of noncompliance in some areas, including safeguarding the health, safety and welfare of the child.

Compliance with regulations remained consistent or showed slight increases over the period. In 2019, more than two thirds (68%) of all regulations were assessed as compliant. The majority of services are assessed as having three or fewer noncompliant regulations.

However, there was still relatively high levels of noncompliance in some areas, including safeguarding the health, safety and welfare of the child. The report gave examples from inspections of shortcomings in this and other areas.

"In the pre-school room a cupboard door which led into the attic space was unlocked and therefore the attic space was accessible to the pre-school children," it said. 

"The chain from a blind in the baby sleep room was broken and accessible to children and could pose a potential risk of strangulation."

Examples of shortcomings regarding outdoor safety included "the slide and climbing frame in the outdoor play area were not anchored to the ground. The gated entrance at the top of the stairs was easily openable and provided unauthorised access to the pre-school."

Other issues included "children were observed in highchairs watching a cartoon for 50 minutes, with limited interaction and no play-based activity. Children’s nappies were not changed in a timely manner.

"Fire safety concerns were noted in many providers and adults were observed not responding to children’s cues appropriately, such as when children needed to sleep. In some facilities, the sleep room was too hot, with a temperature above 25C."