I join Senator van Turnhout in the call for a statement from the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Fitzgerald, a woman for whom I have the height of respect. I believe she is doing an excellent job given the resources she has. It is up to her Cabinet colleagues to back her in getting extra resources in order that these crèches can be properly inspected. It is not acceptable that quite a few counties throughout the country have no inspectors and there are no inspections, not even once each year. There has been none for the past four years or so and that is unacceptable. What we witnessed last night was horrific child abuse, to which my colleague, Senator Mooney, alluded. It included force-feeding children, shouting at them, tossing them around and tying them into chairs. It was totally unacceptable. This type of situation occurred in the orphanages in Romania some years ago and we were all horrified. It cannot be allowed to continue. Inspections should be carried out as a priority and published on the Internet, just as the whole school evaluations are published on a monthly basis.

Child care workers are all qualified at a minimum of FETAC level five, a very good qualification. It has been tossed around by some of the media as being irrelevant and useless but it is an excellent qualification. We should try to ensure that all child care workers in these crèches have this qualification. Crèches are only required to have 50% qualified people. I maintain a good start would be 100% of staff with the FETAC level five qualification. Let us be honest about it and start paying qualified people properly.

We need only look at their huge profits.

Some of them are on the minimum wage despite the huge profits that these institutions are making. It is not acceptable. That is the bigger picture. There should be a minimum qualification of level five FETAC for everyone, not only 50% of staff.

Like everyone else I was stunned to hear of the child abuse prevalent in some child care facilities in the country and it is not acceptable at all. I have been a mother who entrusted her children to child care facilities. It is obviously not the case everywhere. In condemning the abusive practices that "Prime Time" revealed we should be careful not to condemn all facilities. I know some facilities and one's own home would not be run as well as them. I know some facilities that are inspected frequently and those responsible are never notified of an inspection. Clearly what is coming out in the debate is that the practice is not consistent or standardised across the country. Above all, as some people have said in the Seanad today, it comes down to the integrity and character of the person in charge and the person minding the children. No matter how good our inspections, if the person in question is not properly background-checked and if she is not meeting the standards, there will be problems. No inspection regime can be in there every day.

I am calling on the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to do two things. She must ensure that the people who have been found to be abusive are tried. That is an example of the standard that we want at a minimum for our children. I want to hear her address the issues raised today, including the issues that Senator Wilson raised relating to minimum qualification.

There is a major issue around pay.

While pay is an issue, corners will be cut. We are in grave danger today of painting everyone with the same brush. That is not fair or true. I look forward to a very open and inclusive debate on this topic.

I join with other Senators in expressing my horror at the mistreatment of children uncovered in the RTE "Prime Time" programme shown last night. It revealed 75% of crèches are in breach of regulations, a horrific statistic for us to face up to. One of the crèches in question received over €1 million from the State last year. As Senator Wilson said, these are organisations receiving moneys from the State in circumstances where they are actually abusing children. It is absolutely horrific.

As Senator Healy Eames said, it is quite right to point out the situation in eastern Europe but at least they have poverty as some sort of excuse. We live in a civilised society. Well, "civilised" may be the wrong word. We live in a-----

Developed.

Yes, that is the word. We live in a very developed society. I thank Senator Healy Eames for that. It is more shocking in that context. I join with other Senators in asking for the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to use all the resources she can get to sort out this matter. A debate in the House is worth having but it is a serious issue which needs immediate action.