Proprietors and managers of centres where problems were noted in the inspection reports have told the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) that all issues were promptly addressed.
When the RIA wrote to the owners of the Viking Lodge Hotel last December to remind them that smoking was prohibited in all bedrooms in its accommodation centres, the manager responded within weeks to assure the RIA that the issue of fire risk had been addressed.
Last February, the RIA brought to the attention of East Coast Catering Ltd, which runs Hatch Hall accommodation centre in Dublin, that broken chains on two third-floor windows meant there was a "risk of [a] child falling out of the window".
In response, general manager Brian Byrne assured the RIA that the chains had been reinstated and that a more robust system was being sought. "[ We] have examined all windows to ensure that they are safe," he added.
In May last year the RIA wrote to Millstreet Equestrian Services, which runs the Millstreet centre, stating that there was a "significant plumbing issue" in the centre at Drishane Castle. Manager Noreen Mullane yesterday told The Irish Times that all problems were rectified very soon after the report was received.
In July 2006 an RIA official wrote to the proprietor of Cliffview in Donegal Town, Shane Timony, to report that an inspector had found no kitchen hygiene records, no evidence of kitchen staff training (except fire training) and no evidence that an environmental health officer had visited the premises. Moreover, he found that, in the main fridge, "dripping meat is still defrosting above non-dripping meat" and said there was "potential for serious cross-contamination".
On receipt of the report, Mr Timony wrote that it was up to the environmental health officer when and at what intervals to inspect a premises. "If they are not regularly inspecting a premises then that is because they do not have a problem with it." The problem with food storage was a "basic mistake" and staff had been "re-instructed" on proper storage techniques.
"This could not have led to serious cross-contamination as it was in the defrosting fridge and all food was raw and going to be cooked," Mr Timony wrote.
