‘Quality counts, but it also costs money’

Many childcare providers say extra administration required for the regulations will be an issue

Like many a high-quality early years service, Crumlin Childcare Centre in Dublin already has in place most of the requirements under the new regulations coming into force this Thursday.

A community-based, full-day care service, its manager, Lelia Murphy, has been doing a tick-box exercise to see where it stands.

“I think a lot of it is very positive – it is focusing on the child and health and safety,” she says of the new set of regulations. However, along with the other 4,500 providers around the country, she is waiting for the Child and Family Agency (Tusla) to produce its quality and regulatory framework to explain in detail what will be expected of them.

“A lot of it we would do already and I think for us it would be going back and making sure you are doing it the correct way.”

Read the full article in The Irish Times