John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will preface my remarks by saying there are many crèches today that are carrying out exemplary professional work with children. I worked as a secondary school teacher and if someone reported that a teacher had tied up a student or put a student into a room with a blanket over him, we would be gobsmacked. We put up with this for long enough in our nursing homes but it is not acceptable and tolerated any longer. It was never tolerated in our secondary and primary schools and it should never be tolerated in our preschools. Can the Minister give an assurance there will be an increase in inspections, that unannounced inspections will be introduced and that any staff shortcomings will be addressed? Will the Minister withdraw public funding from child care providers if they are found to be in breach of HSE regulations? Public money should be withdrawn from crèches that fail the children in their care. Regulations and standards must be enforced if they are to be taken seriously and the public have the right to be able to have faith in the system.

The Minister said on "Morning Ireland" today that inspection reports would be available online. Will that be new inspection reports or will that include inspection reports form the past?

This has been a watershed moment in our thinking on child care and early years education in Ireland. We must focus less on the profits of companies and more on the educational and developmental needs of our children.

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