Manulla crèche owner ordered to stop running crèche

OWNER?Marie McGrath, Owner of Sunny Days Creche, Manulla, arriving at Castlebar District Court on October 4 last.?Pic: Keith Heneghan/Phocus


Manulla crèche owner ordered to stop running crèche

Crèche owner pleading guilty to ten breaches of childcare regulations

The owner of a crèche in Manulla, outside Castlebar, has been ordered by a judge to remove herself from the day-to-day running of her crèche as a result of a series of breaches of childcare regulations.
Marie McGrath of the Sunny Days crèche in Manulla, Castlebar, appeared before Castlebar District Court yesterday (Wednesday) charged with ten breaches of the 2006 Pre-school Child Care Regulations after a series of inspections earlier this year. Eleven other charges were withdrawn by the HSE when Ms McGrath pleaded guilty to ten charges.
The case had been heard on October 4 last and had been adjourned to yesterday for a decision.
Ms McGrath sat at the back of the courtroom alone, wearing a grey suit. She appeared nervous and tense throughout the court sitting.
Judge Mary Devins said it was ‘notable’ that there was a history of complaints, four preceding this prosecution, since the crèche opened in 2006.
Judge Devins referred to as ‘interesting’ the evidence on October 4 of Ms Sandra Loftus from human-resources-consultancy firm Canavan Byrne, hired by Ms McGrath to address some of the issues arising from this prosecution. Judge Devins
questioned Ms Loftus’s testimony that Ms McGrath is capable of running a creche without extra managerial personnel, given that the same witness also described Ms McGrath’s experience of running a crèche as ‘a learning process’.
Judge Devins noted that legislation and regulations surrounding crèche operations are ‘strict and rightly so’, saying ‘young children and infants are completely and utterly vulnerable’.
Judge Devins concluded that, taking into account the ‘stark statement’ from the HSE inspector, Ms Breda Cloney, that the crèche should be closed down, she would adjourn the case to May 21 next.
She said by then a manager must be appointed and that by the adjourned date Ms McGrath was to have ‘removed herself from the day-to-day running of the crèche’.

Shouting at children
On October 4 last, Breda Cloney gave evidence of the breaches at the crèche, saying she felt the facility should ‘most definitely’ be closed.
Ms Breda Cloney said she was ‘shocked’ when she observed a staff member of Sunny Days shouting at three and four year olds when she visited on January 15. She added that the same staff member was catching children by their upper arms and putting them into a straight line in view of Ms Cloney and the children were ‘physically upset with tears in their eyes’.
On bringing her concerns to Ms McGrath, Ms Cloney said the owner replied ‘that’s only her [staff member] way’.
Ms Cloney cited witnessing children who had ‘bumped themselves’ and were crying being given no comfort by staff. She spoke of one girl who was sitting in the dining room crying for two-and-a-half minutes and no staff member picked her up. Ms Cloney had to ask for the girl to be picked up.
Complaints from parents had also been received.
Solicitor for the HSE, James Ward said he saw a video of this incident which he described as ‘distressing’.
Ms Cloney told the court that according to regulations, sleeping toddlers are to be checked every ten minutes, but the infants were checked only every fifteen minutes in Sunny Days. On one visit to the crèche last April, Ms Cloney noted toddlers had not been checked for 30 minutes.

Children given horse oats
Ms Cloney also told the court she was allowed access to the crèche on another occasion by a 12-year-old child attending the after school service. She had suggested to Ms McGrath that porridge oats be given to the children to play with to develop their sensory skills, only to be ‘horrified’ to see that Ms McGrath had bought horse oats and the children were playing with them, despite the dangers presented. “I grew up on a farm. Rodents run across them [horse oats] … Children constantly put their hands in their mouths,” she stated.
On inspecting the outside of the crèche, Ms Cloney said she found the area behind the building slippy. She recounted how  and that a staff member said she brought children out to the outside area at the front of the crèche, which was not fenced off from the main road.
Ms McGrath told the court that her main concern was always the welfare of the children, and defending solicitor John Geary asked Judge Devins to give Ms McGrath a chance. The court heard Ms McGrath had hired Canavan Byrne to address some of the issues.