Advice needed

cujimmy

Friends of mine in dublin have just removed their son from the nursery he was in as they had "issues" with it, ie more kids then the registered numbers, cash in hand fees and the general (lack of)standard of care. they spoke with the manager but got no where, Do whom can they complain?

Thanx 4 The Fish

Unfortunately, absolutley nobody. In england there are regulatory boards and spot checks every couple of months, in Ireland nothing.

daveg

Originally posted by Thanx 4 The Fish
Unfortunately, absolutley nobody. In england there are regulatory boards and spot checks every couple of months, in Ireland nothing.

surely not. I thought they were clamping down big time.

I'd say the local health board would be your best bet.

Victor

The numbers is a really big no-no, talk to health board and council (fire officer and planning dept at least).

My sister helped a friend sort out her creche for planning purposes (upgrade fire-rating, extra escape door etc.) a few years ago. If I remember correctly it is one (trained) adult per 3 babies (under twos) and one adult per 8 toddlers (2-5).

Thanx 4 The Fish

My partner is setting up a Montessori school. There is no statutory regulation body. There are no guidelines to follow and no bodies to report to unless you become an affiliate. If you are an affiliate of one of the pre-school bodies in Irelandf then they can chuck you out with enough bad reports but aside from that nothing.

Sj is going to run it according to the guidelines that she had to follow in england. There may be clamp downs on the way but there is nothing preventing me opening up a pre-school with no experience and 1 to 20 children, barring obviously that no parent would leave their child in that environment.

Victor

From http://www.doh.ie/hinfo/preschools.html

The Child Care (Pre-School Services) Regulations, 1996 and (Amendment) Regulations, 1997, which give effect to the provisions of Part VII of the Child Care Act, 1991 provide for notification to and inspection by health boards of pre-school services. They were introduced on 31 December 1996. The Regulations apply to pre-schools, playgroups, day nurseries, crèches, childminders looking after more than three children and other similar services which cater for children under six years of age.

Child Care Regulations and Explanatory Note http://www.doh.ie/pdfdocs/ccreg.pdf

Review http://www.doh.ie/pdfdocs/ccreg2.pdf

Planning guidlines http://www.environ.ie/pdf/childcarefacilities.pdf

Thanx 4 The Fish

Believe it or not, while this is the law of the land there is no enforcement of this. as mentioned earlier, Sj is setting up a Montessori school and we have asked local council, and the WHB who to contact with regards regulations etc and there was absolutley no direction on this. No need to register or apply for Garda permit etc...

daveg

Originally posted by Thanx 4 The Fish
Believe it or not, while this is the law of the land there is no enforcement of this. as mentioned earlier, Sj is setting up a Montessori school and we have asked local council, and the WHB who to contact with regards regulations etc and there was absolutley no direction on this. No need to register or apply for Garda permit etc...

typical isn't it. This fúcking goverment.... I tell ya I know who I'll be voting for next time. If I'm not dead from Sars :rolleyes:

Victor

Originally posted by Thanx 4 The Fish
No need to register or apply for Garda permit etc...

Wasn't there a big hullabaloo last year about having child care workers checked out by the Gardaí? If you are employing staff, this might be an idea.

Do a search of the WHB site (www.gov.ie threw up some hits on it for "creche regualtions").

Thanx 4 The Fish

We looked up oasis.gov.ie about Montessori regulations and there was bugger all there.

Will have a peek at that,

Thanks,

M

cujimmy

Thanks for all the help folks. I have told my friends about your comments and will now have to wait and see what happens. I must admit i am shocked about how easy it seems to be to set up in Ireland. Iam over in UK and work in social work and all child care services from childminders up are registered and inspected. My social work colleagues think i am having them on when I discussed it with them

iuil

It depends on the Health Board I think.

My mother's a Montessori teacher and just had an indepth visit from the inspectors. One examined the rooms and facilities (even took a tape measure at one point) while the other inspected samples of the children's work, the insurance certs, roll books etc.

J