Nursery World - Ireland Reforms - Progress is slow for Ireland's childcare sector

More than a year since a television programme revealed
below-standards of care and mistreatment at some of Ireland's creches,
little improvement appears to have been made to the country's
childcare.

A follow-up to the RTE's Prime Time 'Breach of Trust' programme, aired in June 2013, has revealed that despite promises by the Irish government to radically reform the country's pre-school services, change is slow and on a small scale.

Last year, the then-minister for children and youth affairs Frances Fitzgerald announced plans to introduce a Pre-School Quality Agenda covering registration, regulation and enforcement for settings following the television expose.

A small number of the reforms have been introduced, including the requirement for all nurseries and creches to undergo an inspection in advance of opening, and publishing inspection reports online. A total of 4,037 inspection reports have been published to date. Two more reforms are being brought in this autumn.

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