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25
The general staffing position has been maintained though at
times this has been very difficult; the senior staff have undertaken
many tasks additional to their normal duties and on occasion
the staffing position has been so low that it has been necessary
to restrict the admission of children to the nurseries.
Private Day Nurseries. Child-Minders and Playgroups
In my report for 1968 reference was made to the provisions
of Section 60 of the Health Services and Public Health Act, 1968,
which amended certain provisions of the Nurseries and ChildMinders
Regulation Act, 1948, and came into effect on the 1st
November, 1968. These amendments brought within the scope of the
principal Act premises open for a daily aggregate period of two
hours or more and child-minders receiving one or more children.
Previously the criteria had been three hours (a matter of
practice not legally prescribed) and more than two children
respectively. Increases in the numbers registered in both
classes is shown in the following table:-
Registered Day Nurseries and Child-Minders
1969 1968
Number of registered day nurseries
at 31st December 41 24
Number of places 1,005 710
Number of child-minders registered
at 31st December 72 20
Number of children authorised 182 91
A feature of the new registrations is that both premises
and child-minders individually take fewer children. This was to
be expected as the legislative amendments directly affected childminders
receiving fewer children and small playgroups of which the
active sessions were previously regarded as too short for
registration. New registrations resulting were in respect of
sixteen premises receiving 260 children and 46 child-minders
receiving 78 children.
Ten premises are organised on sessional lines and although
their total number of places is only 172, in effect they provide
sessional care for a much larger number of children.
Following receipt of the Department of Health and Social
Security Circular 37/68, the Council approved a scheme to pay for
the private day care of children in the priority groups by
selected child-minders or in private day nurseries. The Council
pays the child-minders at the rate of 15s Od per day and private
day nursery charges at rates considered reasonable on individual
consideration. In both cases parents are assessed to pay
contributions towards the charges to the Council as if the
children were accommodated in a Council day nursery. At the end
of the year, there were two children placed under this scheme
one with a child-minder, one in a nursery.