The attitude of a creche owner was described as "appalling" by a judge who fined her a total of £5,000 for contravening the Child Care (Pre-School Services) regulations. He gave her 14 days to close the premises.
The creche owner was debarred at Limerick District Court yesterday by Judge Tom O'Donnell from reopening her business until she satisfies the Mid-Western Health Board that she has adequate premises with qualified staff.
"If I were asked to, and it was within my power, I would have no hesitation in closing it down today," the judge said.
Ms Deirdre McLoughlin of Jolly Tots, Caherdavin, Co Limerick, pleaded guilty to 11 summonses alleging she contra vened the Child Care Regulations 1996 on August 18th last.
Among the alleged offences was the provision of an insufficient number of competent adults supervising pre-school children, a failure to ensure sufficient, nutritious and varied food was provided for them, and a failure to keep fixtures and fittings in a clean and hygienic condition.
Mid-Western Health Board public health nurse Ms Helen Rouine said 11 complaints were made in the last eight months and 21 since the creche opened in April 1998. Complaints were made by parents, members of the public and former employees. Ms Rouine visited the premises with other health board officials more than 25 times in the last year.
Referring to the alleged offences on August 18th last, she said they found one staff member supervising five children aged three to six years who were eating their dinner at 11.30 a.m. This would be considered quite early, as they would be on the premises until 6.00 p.m. The adult/child ratio was not adhered to and six children aged from one to three years were unsupervised for half an hour.
Ms Rouine said the creche was cold and the inspectors were told the heating was not working as the oil had run out.
One leaking toilet was observed and a wet soiled towel was around the base of the leaking toilet. A soiled pair of underpants was in a sink.
She told the court that food consisted of corned beef, cabbage and potatoes for dinner. The corned beef was not cut up for the younger children and there was no milk, bread, ham, cheese or alternative if a child did not eat his dinner.
Ms McLoughlin said she wanted to close the creche because "there is too much hassle" and did not want to run it anymore. She wanted a month to inform parents and negotiate the lease with her landlord. She was qualified, as were all her staff, to operate a creche.
She said they provided a warm dinner every day, including meat and potatoes. All the children had their own mats, pillows, creams, nappies and wipes. They also had colouring, painting and sing-songs from tapes. The creche had got a new cooker, had fire extinguishers, drill and smoke alarms.
"Every time the health board called there was something to be done," she said. "I spent thousands of pounds doing up the premises and staff are terrified when the health board officials come over."
Judge Tom O'Donnell said the inadequacies had been flagged in a health board report last September.
"It appears to me that nothing concrete was done by the defendant to address the difficulties. I have the distinct impression she had adopted a wait-and-see attitude in so far as this prosecution is concerned. This is an appalling attitude when one considers there are so many young children involved."