A SOUTH DUBLIN childcare provider who became “aggressive” and obstructed a Tusla inspection has avoided a criminal record after a €2,000 pay-out.

Padraig O’Connor pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to two offences under the 1991 Childcare Act following a prosecution by the child and family agency.

Judge Anthony Halpin noted today that O’Connor complied with an order made three weeks ago to pay the money toward prosecution costs. The judge then applied the Probation of Offenders Act, sparing him a recorded conviction.

The charges were for obstructing or impeding a Tusla inspector and providing a preschool service while not being on the register of prescribed early years service providers.

The prosecution stemmed from an inspection of Little Puddles Childcare, Glandore Park, Lower Mountdown Road, Monkstown, Glenageary, on 28 July, 2022.

Tusla barrister Morgan Shelly, instructed by solicitor Arthur Denneny, said the agency dropped three similar charges subject to a guilty plea on a full facts basis in the remaining two counts.

Counsel outlined how the childcare service that O’Connor operated with his wife at their home was registered for school-age children but not as a preschool provider for children aged up to four.

Tusla inspector Ide Cronin told Judge Halpin that she had obtained a warrant for her examination and noticed eight children aged two to four years were there.

She said O’Connor “shouted” and was aggressive and threatening, saying, “You are in breach of my constitutional rights”.

The court heard he refused to provide contact details for the children’s parents, and gardai assisted the Tusla official in searching for them.

On another date, there were seven children aged two to four there, and O’Connor claimed that he was exempt from being registered because it was a “summer camp”.

Shelly explained to the court that a preschool-age summer camp also required registration or temporary registration.

On 24 April, there were three preschool children, but the inspector was satisfied that they were there for a week or two for familiarisation and preparation for after-school commencing this month.

Questioned by the defence counsel, the inspector had confirmed she was satisfied with the level of care and agreed that the defendant’s wife assisted her during the inspections.

The charges could have resulted in court convictions and fines totalling €10,000.

Judge Halpin commented that the law in these prosecutions, where a recorded conviction could see a defendant taken off the childcare provider register, was “draconian”.

He noted that the accused cooperated apart from the occasion when things became heated and that he pleaded guilty when it came to court.