Serious questions have been raised about the standards of childcare in Irish creches and Montessori schools after a report in today’s Irish Independent.

The report reveals that parental complaints led to over 100 inquiries by the Health Service Executive (HSE) last year. The HSE, however, refused to reveal the full findings of its inquiries or what actions it ordered creches to take to rectify the problems.

The complaints are revealed in documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Among the cases investigated were several instances of children being able to wander out of creches unsupervised, staff shouting at and threatening children and failures by childcare providers to inform parents after their youngster suffered injuries.

There were also complaints that several creches failed to have staff vetted by gardai and one complaint of a child being scalded because of a staff member’s carelessness.

The report says that, in the vast majority of incidents, offending childcare providers are able to continue in business following the lightest of reprimands. In a statement, the HSE said that while it endeavoured to inspect private creches annually, there was “considerable variance in inspection rates”.

“Priority is given to inspecting services where children stay for longer periods, such as full-day services, and in the investigating of complaints received,” the statement said.

However, many of the lapses documented in the HSE files occurred at creches and pre-schools which only operated for a short part of the day.

Investigators frequently found cases where service providers were unaware of specific regulations, such as adult-to-child ratios, and the need for planning permission and fire certificates.

In a small number of cases, some creche owners admitted they didn’t even know they had to inform the HSE they were providing the service.

The National Children’s Nurseries Association, which promotes high standards in childcare, says every preschool operator should be fully aware of regulations.

However, the association’s director of services, Teresa Heeney, added that there was considerable inconsistency around how some regulations were applied.

She said there was also concern over the resources available for inspections of creches and pre-schools.

Ms Heeney said she hoped new standards, which were to be introduced in the coming months, would reduce inconsistencies and lead to better levels of childcare.

The ISPCC last night said the lengthy list of grievances uncovered by the Irish Independent showed parents needed to be especially vigilant when selecting a creche or pre-school for their child.

In a statement, the HSE said all complaints received were documented and followed up.

It said a national group was finalising a standardised complaints procedure specifically for pre-school services.