Families settle creche chain cases for €615K
FORTY-ONE children who sued the Hyde & Seek creche chain over their alleged treatment have settled High Court actions for a total of €615,000.
Each child’s case was settled for €15,000 and was approved in the High Court by Mr Justice Paul Coffey, who said they were distressing cases.
The settlements that were reached after mediation are without an admission of liability. The children cannot be identified by order of the court.
John Gordon SC instructed by Coleman Legal solicitors told the court the 41 cases arose out of the RTE Investigates documentary broadcast in 2019.
The RTE Investigates team went undercover to look at standards of care in the family-run preschool, which operated several premises in the Dublin area.
Counsel said the children involved in the cases before the court were “very very young” and pre verbal.
Most he said attended creche for 50 hours per week. He said it was their case the children were treated” in a way that was unacceptable”. He said the children became resistant to attending the creche, were allegedly in overcrowded conditions and “were hungry when they came home because of the poor quality of food.”
Counsel said each set of parents reported a similar experience and had their child assessed. He said all of them record happily that the children were sufficiently resilient enough to get over it and were expected to make full recoveries over time.
Maximum
He said this resolution of the cases deals honourably with the claims and the €15,000 in each case was the maximum allowed under the judicial guidelines.
All the claims made in each case were denied by all defendants.
Hyde & Seek Childcare is owned and run by the Davy family – Anne and Peter
Davy and their daughter, Siobhan Davy.
Anne Davy (69), who had stepped down as a Hyde & Seek director in 2022, was fined €4,000 after pleading guilty at Dublin District Court to breaching childcare regulations.
She pleaded guilty to three offences and the prosecution dropped all charges against her daughter and director Siobhan Davy and the Hyde & Seek creche group company.
Ms Davy admitted to engaging in a practice that was disrespectful at her Tolka Road creche on May 8, 2019.
She also admitted having inadequate space per child ratios at the Shaw Street branch.
The court heard that 46 children were there on September 11, 2018, and 35 on July 19, 2019.