Inspector ‘horrified’ by Mayo crèche

OWNER?Marie McGrath, Owner of Sunny Days Creche, Manulla, Castlebar,  arriving at Castlebar District Court.?Pic: Keith Heneghan/Phocus

Mayo crèche faces possible closure after babies left unattended


> Judge calls crèche children ‘little refugees’

> HSE inspector: Facility should ‘most definitely’ be closed

Ciara Galvin

A Manulla crèche is facing closure and fines of up to approximately €12,000 after a court heard that toddlers were left unattended, and that children were upset after being grabbed by their arms by a staff member.
Ms Marie McGrath, owner of Sunny Days crèche, which is located in a former licensed premises in Manulla, pleaded guilty to ten breaches of the 2006 Pre-school Child Care Regulations on January 15, January 25 and April 11, 2013. The HSE withdrew eleven other charges at yesterday’s special sitting of Castlebar District Court.

‘Physically upset’
Giving evidence, HSE Manager of Early Years Inspections for Mayo Breda Cloney said she was shocked on January 15, when she observed a staff member shouting at three and four year olds, making them stand in a straight line and catching children by their upper arms to put them back in line.
“Children were physically upset with tears in their eyes. You could see them squirming and holding their arms,” said Ms Cloney, who described the atmosphere in the pre-school room, catering for three to six year olds, as ‘tense’.
On bringing her concerns to the attention of Ms McGrath, Ms Cloney said Ms McGrath passed off the staff member’s actions, stating: “That’s only her way.”
Ms Cloney told the court that children who had ‘bumped themselves’ and were crying were given no comfort by that member of staff and other staff members.
“One girl was sitting in the dining room crying for two and a half minutes. Nobody picked her up. I asked for her to be picked up,” said Ms Cloney. Solicitor for the HSE, James Ward added that he saw a video of the incident and described it as ‘distressing’.
On hearing that the DVD had not been shown to the girl’s parents, Judge Devins asked Mr Ward to explain why. She said was worried about the duty of care the HSE had in making parents aware of the matters.

Multiple breaches
Since opening in 2007, the crèche has repeatedly breached a variety of regulations, the court heard, with Ms Cloney stating that complaints from parents had been received.
Defending solicitor John Geary argued that the crèche was popular, and that he had 14 letters of support from parents. Four parents were also present in court who were prepared to give evidence in support of the service.
Along with breaches of staff to child ratio and garda vetting, the court heard that babies had been left unattended. The crèche has three age-specific rooms – a baby room, a toddler room and a pre-school room – and Ms Cloney noted that babies as young as four months were left unattended.
When babies required feeding, a staff member would bring each baby to the lunch room leaving other babies unattended. This also happened when a staff member changed nappies, as the changing room was located across the hall from the baby room.
Ms Cloney also said that Sunny Days crèche did not have a rest area for children over two years of age.
Though there was a sleep room for under twos with four standard cots and four toddler beds, one of the beds was against a radiator which was not thermostated and was showing a temperature of 51 degrees on the April 11 inspection. Another toddler bed was blocking a fire exit.
Under the 2006 Pre-school Child Care Regulations, Ms Cloney said crèche staff were supposed to check on sleeping toddlers every ten minutes. Staff in Sunny Days checked on toddlers every 15 minutes and on one occasion on the April visit, Ms Cloney noted toddlers had not been checked for 30 minutes. Ms Cloney added that staff failed to check the sleeping position of toddlers, their breathing and their colour.
The court heard that no drinks accompanied meal times at the crèche, and there had been no introduction of drinks since. Ms McGrath told the court that water was always available and that some children would bring their own water.
Children were observed sitting on the floor picking up dirt and then brought to the lunch  room where they would eat food with their hands.
On inspecting the outside of the crèche, Ms Cloney said she found the area behind the building slippy, and that a staff member said she brought children out to the front area of the crèche, which was not fenced off from the road.

Still employed
After Ms McGrath was given the inspection report, she was given a period of to rectify the issues it highlighted. Ms Cloney revisited the crèche on January 25, when she noted some improvements such as the inclusion of more play things.
In relation to the inadequate rest area for the over twos, Ms Cloney said Ms McGrath had brought a couch from the lobby of the crèche into the pre-school room and blankets were put over the children’s shoulders. Commenting on this, Judge Mary Devins stated ‘like little refugees’.
Ms Cloney said on the second inspection monitoring of babies had been increased but records of this were still not being kept. She also noted that there were no blinds in the sleeping room.
The court heard that the staff member who was observed grabbing children’s arms was still employed in the service.
“Another staff member was put in the room with her. I said she definitely shouldn’t be left alone,” said Ms Cloney.
The practice of leaving babies unattended while a staff member carried a child to the lunch room had been rectified, the court heard. However, the practice was once again observed during a later visit, on April 11.

‘Horrified’
Ms Cloney said on visiting the crèche for a third time on the evening of April 11, she was worryingly granted access to the building by a 12-year-old child who was attending the after school service. Though the crèche has a sophisticated fingerprint system for parents, the child opened a door for Ms Cloney.
“The 12-year-old who let me in without knowing who I was … I could have been anybody,” she said, adding that a pre-schooler who she recognised from a previous visit was walking through the hallway unattended.
After suggesting to Ms McGrath that porridge oats could be given to children to play with in order to develop their sensory skills, Ms Cloney informed the court that the message was misunderstood by Ms McGrath who subsequently bought horse oats.
Ms Cloney said she was ‘horrified’ to see children playing with the horse oats.
“I grew up on a farm. Rodents run across them [horse oats] … Children constantly put their hands in their mouths,” she stated.
The horse oats were seen still being used on a visit to the service last week by Ms Cloney.
Asked if the service should be closed, Ms Cloney stated ‘most definitely’.

Adjourned
Taking the stand, Ms McGrath said she always looked after the children and that her main concern was their welfare. The owner said that with the help of Canavan Byrne, a HR management, outsourcing and training solutions company, she was overcoming past challenges and was looking to employ a manager for the service.
Sandra Loftus of Canavan Byrne, who has been working in the crèche implementing new procedures, said she ‘never witnessed any child being mistreated’, and that significant improvements had taken place. Asked if she believed Ms McGrath would be able to run the crèche without employing a manager, Ms Loftus replied, ‘at this point, yes’.
Appealing to the judge, Mr Geary asked his client could be given the opportunity to ‘continue on the graph she is going on’.
Ms McGrath could face a fine of €1,269 for each of the offences along with the closure of her crèche.
Judge Devins adjourned the matter to November 20 for a decision.