THE Sunday Tribune was criticised in the Dail yesterday for refusing to give the Eastern Health Board the names of the Dublin pre schools whose facilities it criticised in an article last week.

The Minister of State for Health, Mr Austin Currie told Ms Frances Fitzgerald (FG, Dublin South East) that the board contacted the paper to find out which schools it referred to "with a view to those facilities being investigated forthwith".

The paper reported incidents of the force feeding of infants, of children being strapped into chairs and left there all day, and of creches smelling strongly of urine.

Mr Currie gave details of child care (pre school) regulations which came into effect on December 31st last year but did not outline who was involved in the monitoring or their qualifications. The regulations included fines of up to £1,000 and prohibition from operating a pre school for non compliance with the rules.