NURSERIES, creches and other pre-school services are to be regulated from January under rules signed yesterday by the Minister of State for Health, Mr Austin Currie.
New regulations obliging children's residential homes to register with their regional health boards will come into effect at the same time - but they will not apply to homes for physically disabled or mentally handicapped children. The move means that the Child Care Act, 1991, is finally fully in operation.
Pre-school services will be obliged to meet general standards under the new regulations. The services affected include pre-schools, play groups, day nurseries, creches and day-care services catering for children under six.
Many of the regulations deal with safety issues and with the keeping of detailed records. Parents will be entitled to inspect the records relating to their children.
People running such services have six months to notify their health boards of the fact.
The rules for children's residential centres provide for registration with health boards and for inspections by health board officials.
They stipulate that parents and others having a bona-fide interest in the children should have reasonable access to the centres.
Most of the rules are about facilities such as cooking. One rule goes so far as to lay down that "there shall be a person in charge of a centre"
But the regulations specifically exclude institutions run by the State and institutions "for the care and maintenance of physically or mentally handicapped children".
Mr Currie yesterday said £35 million has been invested in expanding child-care services since 1993, when the Kilkenny Incest Report was published, and an extra 950 child-care posts created.