Regulation 19 in Donegal
Health, Welfare and Development of Child: 11 non-compliance(s) in the latest reports we read.
An inspection records what inspectors saw on one day; services respond with corrective actions — how to read this.
20 May 2026
Letterkenny Community Playgroup Childcare Centre CLG, Letterkenny · Regulation 19 — Health, welfare and development of child
- 1. The environment in the Butterfly Room did not support the pre-school children in initiating and sustaining play activities. The room layout failed to adequately meet the needs of the children present due to a lack of clearly defined interest areas and insufficient play materials. Observations indicated that the layout heavily restricted child-initiated activity, resulting in mainly adult-led tasks. Management acknowledged this issue when it was brought to their attention and confirmed they have already sought external advice. 2. Staff members missed valuable opportunities to engage in purposeful interactions, language development, and social development. This was evident when staff did not sit and engage with the children during mealtimes. Instead, staff were observed preparing the room for sleep time, which detracted from sustained and purposeful interactions with the children
Provider's corrective action:
- 1. The service is now working with “Betterstart” to provide an enriching environment for the children in the Butterflies Room. They have focused on providing defined areas for the children to enjoy. The focus has been on providing a home corner, construction corner and a cosy area. Management will ensure that all rooms have defined areas to enhance children’s learning. Management will ensure there are enough resources available in each room. 2. Additional staff will be available at snack time to help set up for sleep. This will allow the core staff to sit and engage with children whilst they are eating. The service has separated two playrooms to create a more natural flow from snack to sleep time. The children will have meals in one room and can transition to their beds which will be set up in the other room when they have finished eating. When children wake up from their sleep the other room will be set up for them to play or do activities. Management will ensure that room leaders and staff know that they need to engage with the children during mealtimes. Room leaders will delegate to others to set up for sleep allowing the core staff to interact with the children
11 March 2026
Dunfanaghy Community Playhouse Ltd, Dunfanaghy · Regulation 19 — Health, welfare and development of child
- While fresh drinking water was provided to the children at snack time, there was no drinks available to the children outside of this time
Provider's corrective action:
- A large plastic jug with a nozzle for children to pour their own water if they are thirsty has been placed in the playroom down low for easy access
26 February 2026
Cara Children's Centre, Letterkenny · Regulation 19 — Health, welfare, and development of child
- (19) Clean and safe drinking water was not always available and accessible to children in year two room
Provider's corrective action:
- The bottles are now more accessible to the children on a trolley in the playroom. All staff members have been reminded that the water bottles must not be stored in the fridges. They have to be freely accessible to the children at all times
18 November 2025
Little Acorns Montessori Playschool, Buncrana · Regulation 19 — Health, welfare and development of child
- • In room 1, the dress up materials were stored on a shelf on top of each other making it difficult for children access. • In room 1, the rest area was insufficient for the number of children aged 2-6 in full day care, containing a large floor mat and two cushions. It is acknowledged that stackable floor beds are available in the service should a child require a sleep. • In room 1, the book area contained 5 books, with some torn magazines. This is insufficient for the number of children in the room
Provider's corrective action:
- The registered provider responded: 1.Coat hooks attached to the dress up area wall. 2. Floor mat removed and replaced with a clean one. More cushions, blankets and teddies added. 3. Old books thrown out and new books added. Staff will reset areas throughout the day and change books weekly
21 October 2025
LMNO Childcare, Letterkenny · Regulation 19 — Health, welfare and development of child
- (1) (a) Physical and Material environment On the day of the inspection, the rang of equipment available in the caterpillar room was inadequate for the provision of challenging, diverse, creative and enriching experiences for children. For example, a play kitchen and doll house were both empty of any materials required for children’s play. There was a lack of clearly defined interest areas and lack of play materials. Due to the room layout, it was observed that activities were mainly adult led with minimal opportunity for child-initiated play. Although some play equipment was present in the room, items were mixed up and not grouped together to afford a young child the experience of accessing a complete play set. For example, train pieces, puzzles pieces and construction blocks were together in one box
Provider's corrective action:
- The registered provider responded: The caterpillar room was not properly set up on the day of inspection. The staff have since been retrained on the importance of setting up the room each day so that the environment is inviting for the children to play in. They have also been retrained on the importance of ensuring that after sleep/meal times/outdoor play, that it is important for the rooms to be reset each time with toys in their correct boxes so that the children can easily find what toys they wish to play with. The manager and room leader will ensure that the room is properly set up each morning and that the toys are being reset after breaks in play so that the environment is always inviting for the children and easy to navigate
4 September 2025
Little Acorns Montessori Playschool, Buncrana · Regulation 19 — Health, welfare and development of child
- Physical and material environment 1. The indoor environment did not support the preschool children in initiating and sustaining play activities. The preschool room layout did not adequately meet the needs of the children present due to a lack of clearly defined interest areas and lack of available equipment. For example, during painting time, there was insufficient table space for each of the children to work at. This resulted in some children placing their paper on the floor and on the large windowsill. Minor disagreements between the children in relation to lack of space at the table occurred during this time. 2. There was no soft furniture or seating to provide a rest area, should the children require it. 3. A limited number of books were present in the room; however, these were stored on high shelving out of the children’s reach. 4. Some of the equipment in the preschool room was not functioning properly. For example, a play kitchen was missing both the “tap” and all the doors. Equipment that is not working or broken does not provide an enjoyable play experience for children and they do not get the benefit developmentally from these toys that can promote cause and effect rewards
Provider's corrective action:
- 1.Staff have created areas within the preschool room. 2. Staff have created a quiet area with soft furnishings. 3. Staff have moved books to children’s level. 4. Management have purchased a new play kitchen and staff have removed any other broken equipment. Management will do monthly spot checks to ensure the preschool room has areas, quiet area, books at children’s levels and no broken equipment
18 July 2025
Niall Mor Childcare Centre, Killybegs · Regulation 19 — Health, welfare and development of child
- (1) (b) Drinking water was not readily available to the preschool children throughout the session
Provider's corrective action:
- Drinking water is readily available in each room during the day
3 June 2025
Shining Stars, Letterkenny · Regulation 19 — Health, welfare and development of child
- (1) (b) 1. Drinking water was not available to the children outside of the designated snack time, some children did not partake in snack time therefore did not have a drink for the duration of the session. 2. The privacy and dignity of each child was not respected during nappy changing. The privacy screen in place was not sufficient to ensure privacy and dignity of the preschool child as this space is shared with the preschool children’s sanitary accommodation. This has been a previous noncompliance on the previous two inspections in 2020 and 2021
Provider's corrective action:
- 1. Children water bottles were put out on the trolly at main door in the morning and put away just before home time. We will ensure that this process is carried out during the day. 2. We will ensure that this privacy screen is high enough and far enough out to ensure other children cannot see children getting changed. This will be carried out over the summer months- to have it completed for the new term in September
30 May 2025
Little Tobys Playschool, Muff · Regulation 19 — Health, welfare and development of child
- 1. On the day of inspection, it was observed that one of the care rooms did not have enough tables and chairs to accommodate all children during mealtimes. This led to a rushed atmosphere and limited opportunities for social interaction during meals. Mealtimes were staggered, requiring one group of children to finish their meals before the next group could be seated. During this process, children were constantly requested to finish their food promptly to allow their peers to eat. This practice was observed to be in contradiction to the service’s own Healthy Eating Policy, which states: “Children that eat slowly will be given time to eat and not rushed.” 2. It was observed that not all children had the opportunity to access outdoor play during the day. Some children did not go outside at all, while others were only outdoors for approximately five minutes before being collected by their parents. This limited outdoor access may impact children's opportunities for physical activity, fresh air, and engagement with the outdoor environment. 3. In one of the care rooms there was a noticeable lack of materials available for children to engage with. When queried by the inspector, the adult presented a large box containing play materials; however, these resources were not accessible to the children, thereby limiting their opportunities for independent and spontaneous play
Provider's corrective action:
- 1. In address to both point 1&2, the room in question has implemented a better ‘rolling mealtime’ situation. This is part of a larger routine and purpose of routine overhaul for this room to allow for better care to be given to the children. Mealtimes no longer disrupt playtime meaning children have more freedom to come to the meal table and return to play, this is coupled with children preparing for outside play at the same time. The group of children is split into two sittings. The first sitting eats while the second sitting play, once the first sitting finish their educator prepares them for outside play while the second sitting eats, then their educator prepares them for outside play. Upon review of this implementation, it has been working. Review thus far of the strategy to address points 1&2 it has been working, however if it proves unsuccessful in the future the service will invest in more tables for mealtime and change to an everyone sitting practice. 2. ‘Treasure Basket’ approach has been reaffirmed for this room where children are able to develop agency in selecting their preferred play resources
14 May 2025
Shining Stars Montessori & Creche, Letterkenny · Regulation 19 — Health, welfare and development of child
- Sleep in the Shooting Stars room was scheduled and not child led. When children required sleep, other children who did not require any, or woke early from their nap had to wait in their beds for an extended period of time. Between 12.12pm and 12.57pm children were observed to stay on the beds until it was time for the scheduled sleep time to be over. It is acknowledged a book was given to the children on the day, however the children during this time were not afforded the opportunity of choice to choose their own activities or have meaningful play or interactions during this period
Provider's corrective action:
- We are working towards non-scheduled sleep for children under 3yrs. Some children were transitioning out of sleep and reducing sleep. We have planned for children who are transitioning out of sleep and don’t want to sleep at that time, that they are taken outside in our all-weather area or to our sensory areas. To ensure that all staff are understanding the importance of meeting the children’s needs and working around their sleep patterns and what they need for their age and stage
20 February 2025
Colmcille Creche, Moville · Regulation 19 — Health, welfare and development of child
- (b) On the day of inspection, the privacy and dignity of the child was not always recognised. During nappy changing and toileting times, it was observed that the door to the changing room and the toilet were left open. Children who were present were visible from the entrance area and the corridor
Provider's corrective action:
- (c) The service provider was alerted during the inspection that the changing room door was open during the changing of a child’s nappy. The inspector informed the service provider that this was a breach of the child’s dignity and that it should be addressed. The service provider has directed the staff to ensure the door is closed during changing to ensure the child’s dignity, A sign is erected on the door to remind staff to close the door during changing. The non-compliance is addressed and a sign erected on the door to reinforce the new policy regarding dignity. The goal is to avoid the non-compliance re-occurring, so by having the sign erected on the door it is a visual trigger to staff when changing nappies. The above corrective actions have been implemented immediately, and evidence of the new procedure is attached. A sign is erected on the door to trigger staff to close the door when changing. This will be monitored and additional actions in the form of slow closing hinges will be applied if the initial preventative action is not successful