The director of the National Children's Nurseries Association (NCNA) has described complaints made by parents about creches as "shocking" and has called for the immediate regulation of the sector.
Teresa Heaney was speaking on RTÉ radio this morning after a report in today's Irish Examineroutlined serious complaints made to the HSE by parents of children attending creches.
Poor security, lack of supervision and bullying were among the most common complaints made to the HSE between October 1st, 2005 and September 30th, 2006. The details were released under the Freedom of Information Act.
Ms Heaney said she had huge sympathy for parents dropping their children into childcare this morning.
"There needs to be clear regulation of the sector. Our current pre-school regulations don't require staff to be trained and don't require registration of childcare facilities," she said.
"This type of regulation exists around the world and we still don't have that kind of regulation here in Ireland. At present, childcare providers just have to notify the HSE that they're operating;
they don't have to pass any test, they don't have to become licensed," she added.
Ms Heaney said parents should be able to drop into a creche unannounced, receive regular phone calls and have a good relationship with their childcare provider.
The NCNA was was established in 1988 to promote high standards of quality childcare.
Commenting on the complaints, Minister for Children Brendan Smith said he had expressed his concerns to the HSE and was committed to raising the standard of care and safety in the childcare sector.
He said a key policy change in the 2006 Child Care Regulations is the requirement that pre-school services must ensure appropriate vetting of all staff, students and volunteers who have access to a child. This requirement includes Garda vetting.
Meanwhile, the HSE said its pre-school Inspection Service ensured that all reasonable measures are taken to guarantee the health, safety and welfare of pre-school children attending creches.
It said only a 'very small' number of inspections result in court actions with only 8 cases taken in 2006.
However Fine Gael Social and Family Affairs Spokesperson Olwyn Enright said the soft underbelly of regulation in the childcare sector has been exposed by deficiencies in relation to staff training, insufficient child vetting procedures and a complete absence of whistleblowers' legislation.
She said all creche inspection reports should be made available online.
"Parents have a right to know that their children are safe, secure and happy but a lack of transparency and a dearth of strong regulations often mean that is not the case and this must be remedied immediately," she said.