Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The fact that 11 Deputies have sought to highlight the alarm that has been raised nationwide on this issue speaks for itself. It is appalling that the most vulnerable citizens were subject to the type of treatment, neglect, bullying, harassment and downright punishment imposed that occurred in a couple of those crèches and which was shown on "Prime Time" last night.

I want this issue to be put at the top of the Minister's agenda. I understand three of those crèches are located in the constituency I represent. I am appalled to think that the children were so treated and that their parents have been put under the stress of being misled in terms of what was supposed to be a crèche that looked after these children.

The Minister should understand that it is not good enough to refer to the HSE inspection report which stated that 75% of child care facilities were in breach of regulations last year. Seventy-five per cent of what? Half the crèches breached regulations on adult-child ratios and staff background checks. That is not good enough. Sine 40% failed to provide a safe environment for children. That is unacceptable. One of the crèches received over €1 million from the State last year. That is appalling. I want a root and branch investigation to find out what went wrong. I want to know the numbers of children in the crèches, the number of crèches in the country, the private ones in particular. I believe they get notice about inspections, which they should not do because the others do not; they can arrive on the spot.

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