The registered provider did not ensure that the following recruitment procedures were completed prior to the adults commencing in the service in accordance with the service’s recruitment policy: 1. Two references with evidence of validation were not available in respect of two adults working in the service. 2. Eight written references were not validated in respect of adults working in the service. A non-compliance under Regulation 9 (2)(a)(b) was found on last inspection 15 April 2025
Six adults were appointed and allowed access to the children attending the pre-school service prior to the required references being available and assessed by the service. Not appropriately vetting adults prior to being assigned or allowed access to or contact with children, could impact the health and safety of children in their care
Provider's corrective action:
(2)(a)(b) (3) The references are now on file, and both validated for these two staff members. The eight references have also been validated since. Evidence of all of the above has been sent to the inspectorate. A check list has been put in place to ensure validations have all been completed prior to commencing in the service. The manager has also since been trained on this procedure
Regulation 23 — Safeguarding health, safety and welfare of child
General Safety: 1. Garda vetting was available for eight adults employed by the service. However, one garda vetting disclosure was not dated within the previous three years in adherence with the Early Years Inspectorate Regulatory Notice. Action submitted by the Registered Provider
Provider's corrective action:
General Safety: 1. Garda Vetting has been applied for in respect of the adult. Garda Vetting will always be updated a few months prior to the expiry date to ensure this does not occur in future
Regulation 25 — First aid
On the 25 February 2026 an adult who held First Aid Responder (FAR) training was not available between 08:00 and 08:30. The staff roster indicated that an adult with up to date First Aid Responder (FAR) training was not available at all times during operational hours of the service. It is acknowledged that five adults held a record of Basic First Aid for Children
Provider's corrective action:
One adult has since completed the FAR training course. Currently both the manager and the deputy manager have valid FAR certification. This has been reflected on the roster. Two staff will be available at all times to ensure that staff with FAR training will be on the premises at all times
Regulation 30 — Minimum space requirements
On the 25 February 2026 adequate space was not provided for the children in attendance in the Pre-school (Space) room. The following table illustrates non-compliance relating to space requirements: Room Name: Number of Children and Age Range: Type of Service Required: Space Required Per Child Space Available Space Require Pre-school Room 1 (2-3 Years) 19 (3-5 Years) FDC 2.3 m 2.35 m 38.19 m2 46m2
Provider's corrective action:
After the ECCE session four children have been tr ansferred to the senior toddler room where age -appropriate equipment has been provided in the room for the children. From June onwards the service will only be taking 17 ECCE Full Daycare and only 5 ECCE children
Found compliant: Regulation 11, 16, 19, 26, 28, 29.
Immediate action notice. 16 April 2025 An immediate action notice was issued to the registered provider in response to a significant risk found on inspection under
Regulation 9 — Management and recruitment
The registered provider did not ensure that the following vetting procedures were completed prior to the adults commencing in the service in accordance with the service’s recruitment policy: 1. Two references with evidence of validation were not available in respect of two adults working in the service. 2. Eight of the sixteen available references were not validated. (d) International police vetting with evidence of certified translation was not available in respect of one adult working in the service who had lived in another State for a period longer than six months as an adult
Provider's corrective action:
(a) All references have been received and forwarded to TUSLA after the inspection. (b) The eight references were all validated. (d) The outstanding police clearance was translated and sent to the inspector. (2). (a) The service has created a checklist for all staff prior to employment to ensure all required documents are received and validated before employment commences (b) The service now uses company specific validation forms. All references will be validated on these forms prior to employment. This is also noted on the checklist. (d) All staff to submit their relevant police clearance prior to employment. This has also been added to the checklist
Regulation 16 — Record in relation to pre-school service
The staff roster for the week ending 18 April 2025 did not accurately reflect the adults working directly with the children in the service during the inspection. One adult working directly with the children was not detailed on the staff roster. One adult detailed on the staff roster no longer works in the childcare facility. An inaccurate staff roster could lead to inadequate supervision, compromising children’s safety and wellbeing
Provider's corrective action:
A new roster has been created to include all staff working in the service – detailing the staffs full name, shift, lunch break time and lunch cover. The creche has now implemented a rotating roster which is displayed on the office door. All of the before mentioned details are visible on the roster. If and when a staff member leaves, starts employment in the creche, the roster will be updated immediately to reflect the change
Regulation 19 — Health, welfare and development of child
Basic Needs of Children: 1. Provisions for children’s sleep requirements were observed to be service-led rather than child-led. The adults stated that the children’s sleep period commences at 12:30. At approximately 11:30, two children in the toddler room were displaying signs of tiredness including crying, rubbing their eyes, closing their eyes and clinging to an adult. The children were not placed to sleep until approximately 12:30. At approximately 12:10hrs, a third child attending the toddler room was observed crying and clinging to an adult and displaying signs of overtiredness. The child was placed to sleep at 12:30 . Failure to facilitate children to sleep according to their needs may impact negatively on their emotional and cognitive development
Provider's corrective action:
Mats are now available to all children in the service at any stage of the day if they require a rest or show signs of tiredness. All staff have been made aware and encouraged to look out and pick up on the cues of when a child is showing tiredness. Both inhouse and external safe sleep training has taken place. The topics covered within these courses will help to ensure we prevent this non-compliance going forward
Regulation 23 — Safeguarding health, safety and welfare of child
General Safety: 1. A damp patch was observed above exposed hanging wires located over a doorframe in the children’s sanitary facility. This posed a potential safety hazard risk to children. Infection Control: 2. Handwashing was not completed by adults or infants before or after the nappy changing procedures observed. This posed a potential risk of cross infection to the children. 3. The service did not store a child’s milk bottle at the required temperature of 0 to 5 °Celsius in a refrigerator. A bottle of milk was observed in a child’s bag throughout the day . This posed a potential risk of a gastrointestinal illness. Administration of Medication: The following was at variance with the service’s administration of medication policy: 4. Eighteen administration of medication records were reviewed from 2025 in the service’s record book. Ten of the eighteen records reviewed did not detail parental consent or a signed parental signature after medication was given by the adults working in the childcare facility . This posed a potential risk of a medication error and harm to a child. 5. An individual care plan as outlined in the service policy was not available for a child attending the service who was prescribed an adrenaline autoinjector. The manager confirmed that the adults working in the service had not received training to ensure competency, knowledge and skills for the use of adrenaline autoinjectors. This posed a potential risk in the event that a child should have an anaphylactic reaction and to does not ensure that this procedure could be carried out in safe way and that a child’ s care may be compromised. Safe Sleep: 6. The temperature in the wobbler room where children were placed to sleep was not maintained within the required range of 18 to 22˚ Celsius for children aged over twelve months. An electronic thermometer was not available to support staff to monitor and maintain the room temperature. The temperature was recorded by the inspectors at 23.2˚ Celsius while four children aged between fourteen and nineteen months slept. This was at variance with the service’s safe sleep policy. This posed a risk of children overheating. 7. The children’s observation to include their position, colour and breathing patterns were not recorded every ten minutes. This is at variance with the service’s safe sleep policy. An immediate action notice was issued to the registered provider in response to a significant risk found on inspection under Regulation 23 Safe Sleep and Administration of Medication. Refer to the additional information section in the body of the report for further details. Fire Safety: The following posed a potential risk to the safe evacuation of children and adults in the event of a fire: 8. The fire exits and routes were obstructed in the toddler room which accommodated a maximum of eleven children ranging in age from one to two years. Four doors in the toddler room leading to the front of the building outside were locked and a key was not available to open these doors. Access to these four doors was also obstructed with a wooden structure and a highchair. The two windows in the toddler room which were previously identified by the registered provider as a potential fire exit route could not be fully opened and were obstructed by a radiator cover. Stairgates were placed at the entrance/exit routes to the wobbler room, the toddler room and preschool room obstructing immediate access and egress to and from these care rooms. A referral was sent to the local authority fire officer on the 16 April 2025. Outing: 9. The manager stated that outings are frequently undertaken by the service . Risk assessment s or outings checklists were not available for these outings contrary to the service’s outing policy . The manager confirmed that these had not been undertaken prior to the outings . This posed a risk to the safety of the children. Action submitted by the Registered Provider
Provider's corrective action:
General Safety: 1. The damp patch was fixed and repainted on the evening of the inspection. Ensure regular checks of the walls, building take place on a weekly basis and management have been reminded to bring anything they notice straight to the attention of the service provider. It is acknowledged that on the 16 April 2025 the registered provider submitted a photograph demonstrating that the wires were enclosed in a junction box and the damp patch on the wall was resolved. Infection Control: 2. Staff have been reminded to raise any issues regarding maintenance issues to the area manager or service provider. The sink has been fixed and the children’s hands will be washed . Regular checks of the sinks/building to take place on a weekly basis to ensure this not does not happen again. 3. All milk bottles are now stored in a labelled shelf in the fridge. A shelf in the fridge is labelled for dairy bottles. Administration of Medication: 4. All ten forms were signed were sent to the inspector in response to the immediate action notice. Training in Medication use took place for all staff members. All staff have been re-trained to ensure all medical forms and records are completed correctly and accurately. 5. Updated care plans were submitted to the inspector after the inspection. A medical doctor trained all staff working in the building to administer the named medication if needed. The doctor signed a letter to confirm the training took place. The parents of the child also wrote a letter confirming permission to the creche to administer the medication if required. A care plan will be completed for any child where deemed necessary. Safe Sleep: 6. An air conditioning unit was fitted within 24 hours of inspection and a copy the temperature check sheet was submitted to the inspector. The air conditioning unit is available at all times to keep the temperate of the room within range. The temperate will be recorded at various times throughout the day on the temp record sheet. 7. Sleep checks are recorded every ten minutes on the service ’s electronic application system . This was covered in the re-training of the staff on safe sleep that took place. All staff have been re-trained to ensure all checks are done on or before 10 minutes. Fire Safety: 8. The fire doors are now cleared marked as the fire escape for the room. The keys for both of the fire doors are hanging up beside the doors and are fully accessible at all times. The path to the doors are free of objects and nothing is obstructing access to the doors. The windows are not a fire escape – we incorrectly had a fire escape sign above the windows. The fire escape are the double doors in the same room which open up fully where you can walk out in the event of a fire. The incorrect sign above the w indow is no longer there. The keys of the fire escape doors will be hung beside the doors always and will be accessible. A spare set of keys has been cut for the fire escape doors and will be located in the office. Outing: 9. The manager has been retrained on the outings policy and is aware of the completion of the risk assessment/checklist. All outings will also be communicated to the service provider going forward. All risk assessments, check lists etc to be completed before any outing takes place going forward
Regulation 29 — Premises
(d) A handwash basin in the nappy changing area was observed with overflowing water and a leak was noted from the pipe underneath. A pool of water leaked onto the floor underneath the handwash basin. The manager stated that this was identified a week previous to the inspection. It is acknowledged that the leak was fixed during the inspection
Provider's corrective action:
(d) The leak was fixed. (d) Management have been reminded to bring to the attention of the area manager or service provider if there is a maintenance issue. Regular checks will take place on the building