Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister must feel somewhat embarrassed that she is relying on "Prime Time" to find out what is happening in crèches. If I was Minister in her Department, I would be appalled by what was exposed and shocked that lack of action by the Department and the HSE and inspections allowed this to happen. There is constant exposure but very little happens - it is all talk and no action. Action should be taken immediately to investigate this issue. As the Minister said, the Garda has been called in and so on, but there are 4,600 crèches, the majority of which are doing an excellent job. Let us not undermine all of them. The way to resolve this issue would be to have CCTV systems in every crèche but not to broadcast into the homes of parents because one would then never be able to run a crèche. At least, there would be more evidence and more information available when the inspection took place. It is extraordinary that children could be flipped over and thrown like rag dolls on mattresses and abused. It is horrifying. The most precious things in a family are children. We went through enough in this country with what happened in Letterfrack and all of the places in which children have been abused during the years. In 2013 it is a revelation that this could happen in any institution overseen by the State. It is a wake-up call for the Minister. She is more than two years in office, but the situation continues and she does not seem to be informed about what is going on in these institutions. She is relying on "Prime Time". Fair dues to RTE which I commend for carrying out the investigation. Please God, we will not have come back to this House following another "Prime Time" investigation into the work of the Minister's Department.