‘But would I feel differently if my child was in the room? Yes. I would have pulled the child out’

Criticism of management at Giraffe’s Belarmine creche in south Dublin was tempered yesterday by a strong sense of loyalty to the predominantly young, female staff.

"The behaviour I saw is wholly unacceptable," said Emma Lennon, who was collecting her children, one-year-old Zoe and two-year-old Darragh yesterday. Like most of the parents using the creche, she first heard of the concerns 10 days ago, and viewed the Prime Time documentary on Tuesday night.

"What I saw was inexcusable but I am not convinced it's a continuous thing, or creche-wide. It's hard for the parents but I can't imagine what the staff are going through. It's important to say they still have support."

'Getting answers'
"The creche has been very open and accessible, and any questions I have I think we are getting answers. I've just had a 35-minute chat with them."

Ms Lennon, from neighbouring Stepaside has been using the creche since February 2011. Expressing an anxiety shared by other parents, she said: “In a way I question my judgment because I never would have seen a problem. I am going to question myself until I build back up my trust.”

But she added, “I also have issues with RTÉ”, arguing that they could have made their concerns known publicly at an earlier stage. When the creche was told in April that a complaint had been made, “they were faced with taking the word of someone with four to five weeks’ experience versus someone with three years”, as management were not then aware the complainant was an undercover reporter. “There is only so much the creche can do with the information it has.”

Children withdrawn
While the majority of parents have left their children in the creche, according to management, some have been withdrawn, while others said they would move if they could find a practical alternative.

A father picking up his three- year-old son, who did not wish to be named, was among those given an advance viewing last weekend as the boy had featured in the programme.

“I feel shock, obviously,” he said. “There are some brilliant staff here but there has been a lot of mismanagement from the top down. I only took my child in today because I was at work and my wife was at work. Is the answer to send to another creche? It’s the same situation. This is probably the safest place in Ireland now.”

Other parents said they were still seeking reassurances on the accurate keeping of logs, and were unhappy concerns raised in HSE inspections had not been communicated to them earlier.

Stepaside resident Gavin Edwards, whose three-year-old son attends the creche but was not in the room where the filming took place, said: "My experience has been extremely positive. This creche in particular and the other two will be so tightly run there won't be any problems. But would I feel differently if my child was in the room? Yes. I would have pulled the child out."

In a statement, Giraffe said: “Any shortcomings reported in HSE inspections are immediately looked into and rectified by Giraffe.”