Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Preschool services required under the Child Care (Pre-School Services) (No 2) Regulations 2006 to notify their services to the Health Service Executive are subject to inspection by the preschool inspectorate on a regular basis. Previously, the inspection reports were generally held by the inspectorate in paper format and access to them had been an issue of concern, with many parents being required to make freedom of information applications. As part of the comprehensive preschool quality agenda, I asked the HSE to prepare the reports in order that they could be published online. I am pleased to report that the HSE commenced publication of retrospective preschool inspection reports online. I understand 1,912 preschool inspection reports have been published online. This figure includes 1,877 retrospective reports for the period to 1 July 2013. I also gave a commitment that new reports would also be put online when they were completed. I thank the inspectors and the staff of the HSE for completing this mammoth task. The paper reports had to be published online in a suitable format. In addition to the 1,877 retrospective reports, 35 new reports were completed since 1 July.

Parents should ask their child care providers for a copy of a report on their service. The vast majority, if not all, providers will give parents the most up-to-date report available. It is an important part of the information which parents should be able to access. Many services have begun to publish their reports or have made them otherwise available to parents. Pobal is hosting the publication of the reports which are available on its website.

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