Tag Archives: giraffe
This morning.
Anon writes:
Illegal signs of various sizes passing themselves off as council signage in Rathfarnham. Is this campaign all over the city?
Anyone?
‘sup?
Dublin Zoo, Phoenix Park, Dublin.
James Kavanagh writes:
Dublin Zoo is celebrating the birth of a male Rothschild giraffe, born Sunday 25th October at 10.30pm. The calf stands tall at 1.5 metres and weighs an estimated 45kg.
He made his first outside appearance (above) in the African Savanna on Wednesday (28th October), at four days old. He joins a herd of eight giraffes at Dublin Zoo.
Team leader at Dublin Zoo, Helen Clarke-Bennett said, “The calf was born in the giraffe house with the other female members of the herd present. The team watched the birth unfold on our closed circuit cameras. The birth took over an hour and we noticed that the herd was very attentive each step of the way.”
Mask-maker Sebastien Mayer performs a giraffe lip sync to Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’.
Because you need this right now.
Girabbit
at
Mark Phillips writes:
I discovered a Irish Independent article from 2002 (below) on Giraffe seeking investors. It seems we were happy enough to see a race to the bottom in childcare back in the boom days. Sadly, like in so many aspects of Irish life, it’s coming back to haunt us
From 2002:
A new type of creche is on the way, with investors backing a national chain of purpose-built centres,
Giraffe already has two centres up and running and will open three more in the coming weeks. Each facility employs 25 full-time staff, so the company plans to eventually have 500 people working in its centres.
The company’s chairman is entrepreneur Tony Kilduff, and the directors are Mary Ann McCormack, who founded Little Rascals Childcare Services, businessman Simon Dowling and Tony McCormack.
According to joint managing director Ms McCormack, Ireland has lagged behind with this type of childcare, and this chain will create the country’s first recognisable brand in the sector. “Irish childcare has tended to be home-based, smaller operations. Giraffe is developing a purpose-built chain of facilities to cater for larger groups of children,” she said.
“Because the needs have grown considerably, the style of delivery must change to meet demand,” said Ms McCormack.
Joint managing director Simon Dowling said the sector has been very fragmented and that it would now become more focused and structured.
The timing is good in terms of raising money, as venture capitalists and investors look to new areas of growth.
“Certainly, childcare wouldn’t have been viewed as an area for investors, but it is now being viewed as a growth sector,” said Mr Dowling. “Over the last seven to eight years this area has been growing in the UK.”
Ms McCormack added that this is the first time that a major Irish investment has been made in the area.
“There haven’t been many people looking to open childcare facilities on this scale,” she said. They will be seeking to raise further financing from venture capital sources, rather than private investors.
Parallels can be drawn with the leisure sector, which has also seen unprecedented growth in recent times.
Mr Dowling said that the dynamics between the two sectors are very similar.
“We have come across similar locations and have been talking to the same type of investors who have been looking at the leisure industry,” he said.
The childcare sector has generally not been thought of as a particularly profitable one, mainly due to its labour intensive nature and the strain regulations can add to the bottom line.
However, Ms McCormack said that the economies of scale would make Giraffe’s facilities “more financially rewarding”.
Mr Dowling said that while the tax breaks for childcare investors are welcome, the Government needs to look at providing some assistance for parents.
Giraffe centres sticking their necks out to attract Irish investment (Samantha McAughren, Irish Independent, October 3, 2002)
Earlier: Giraffe, Links And ‘Little Harvard‘
(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)
Last night’s Prime Time ‘Breach of Trust’ childcare investigation centred on three state-approved and part state-funded creches.
(1) Giraffe
Footage from last night’s Prime Time showed workers at the Giraffe creche, Belamine, Stepaside, South Dublin shouting at distressed children. Footage also showed children being left strapped in small chairs for hours, in one case, facing a fridge. Diaries detailing the children’s day may also have been fabricated.
The Giraffe creche is part of the Giraffe Group of 21 creches, owned by Giraffe Childcare. As an unlimited company its accounts are not publicly available. However it received just over €1 million from the State in funding for the 2011/2012 pre-school year and just under €1 million for 2012/2013 pre-school year. The creche also charges fees but the amount of the fees are not stated on its website.
All except one of the shares in Giraffe Childcare are owned by an Isle of Man company called Yokota. The other share is owned by an Irish trust company called Sanpel Ltd. The directors of Giraffe Childcare are Simon Dowling,Tony Kilduff, Mary Ann McCormack, Tony McCormack, and Siobhan Moore, who are also directors of Yokota. Mr Kilduff is also a director of the Mater and Cappagh National Orthopaedic hospitals.
In a statement made pre-programme Simon Dowling, MD of Giraffe, accepted that RTE had found clear evidence of inappropriate conduct by some staff and said he was “upset and disappointed” after seeing the footage. He unreservedly apologised to parents.
(2) Little Harvard
Footage of the Little Harvard creche in Rathnew, Co Wicklow, showed a one-and–a-year-old year old child being shut behind a closed door for a number of minutes as a punishment for misbehaving. It also showed children playing outside with materials from a nearby building site.
Little Harvard received the sum of €433,000 in State funding in 2011-12, with a further €463,000 paid out towards the running of those facilities in 2012-2013. It also charges fees (details here) http://littleharvard.ie/pricing/
Little Harvard has other crèches in Leixlip, Rathfarnham, Bray and Blanchardstown. It is run by Little Harvard Childcare Limited, whose shareholders and directors are Regina McGovern and James Hargrave. The Little Harvard in Rathnew, Co Wicklow. Little Harvard Childcare Ltd had accumulated profits of €324,194 at the end of 2010, according to abridged accounts for that year. At the end of the previous year the figure was €19,987. No actual profit figure for the year is given in the accounts.
In a statement made pre-programme, Little Harvard Creche said it was disappointed that the footage focused on “isolated incidents” and did not reflect the commitment, care and love provided by staff to the children every day. A spokesperson said Little Harvard is investigating the incidents and taking all steps necessary to ensure that shortcomings are not repeated.
(3) Links
Footage of Links creche in Malahide shows children being cursed at by care workers. A child who will not go to sleep has his mattress taken away. At one point one staff member says to another “Don’t be afraid to be tough with them.. cos you have to be… cos they’re all little bullies”
This is immediately followed by footage showing a baby who will not go to sleep being picked up roughly and slammed back down into the mattress, apparently in an attempt to get it to sleep, while the song ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ plays in the background.
Links is run by a company Links Childcare and Montessori Ltd, founded almost a decade ago by Deirdre Kelly. It operates ten creches in Dublin. Its directors and shareholders are all members of the Kelly family, who are also directors of P Kelly Delicatessen Ltd and P Kelly Motors Ltd.
Links was paid €329,000 under the pre-school scheme in 2011-12, and €353,000 in 2012-13. It also charges fees but there is no pricing on its website, which also states that Links provides the additional features of spanish, speech and drama classes and hip-hop.
The Links website states:
“Deirdre Kelly has always been hands on ensuring high quality and early years’ education…Parents value her opinion and she is known affectionately as Dublin’s answer to Supernanny because of her advice and tips ranging from discipline, eating habits, toilet training, education, routines and health right down to advising parents on the best available nappy rash cream! (a well-kept secret).”
A statement on behalf of Links was issued pre-programme by Stephen O’Byrne of MKC Communications, a political lobbying public affairs firm and a board member of the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Links has accused the programme of “putting the interests of RTE in priority to the health and welfare of the children involved”. A complaint has been made by Links to the Gardai that RTE obtained information by deceit, trespassed on the creche, and breached the data Protection Act.
Previously: The Prime Time Creche Sting: A Parent Writes
(Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland)
