Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 31 July 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Issues Regarding Childcare Facilities: Discussion

Mr. Brian Lee:

It is important to frame where we came from. When I took over in 2014, approximately 1,200 inspections were conducted each year. There has been a significant increase in inspection activity. We are inspecting in the region of 50% of services per year. I highlighted that if a service is good, inspecting it on a very frequent basis is not the best use of public resources. We tend to frequently inspect services about which we are more concerned or in respect of which we are taking enforcement action. Those services could be subject to three or four inspections a year. A good service might undergo an inspection every 18 months or two years. If, however, unsolicited information is received about a service, it may trigger an inspection regardless of the level it is at. There is no straightforward answer to exactly how many times-----

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