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	A PROBE is under way after two toddlers wandered out of one of the creches at the centre of a TV investigation into alleged mistreatment of children.</h2>
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		The incident occurred yesterday at Giraffe in Belarmine, Stepaside, south Dublin, which was one of three childcare centres that featured in an RTE &#39;Prime Time&#39; probe in May.</p>
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		The two children left the premises by themselves during a visit by an animal handler who had brought a visiting farm to the creche.</p>
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		Management at the Giraffe creche in Stepaside last night admitted that two toddlers had exited the premises through a gate which had been left open.</p>
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		The young children were found on a grass patch outside the creche. One of the Giraffe care workers had noticed that they were missing and found them along with a local resident, according to a statement from the creche.</p>
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		It is unclear how long the children were off the premises for but it is believed to have been a short time.</p>
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		The creche said it had the correct staff ratio in operation at the time and that it had launched a full investigation, which would be the normal procedure in such instances.</p>
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		In the aftermath of the RTE &#39;Prime Time&#39; probe, management at Giraffe in Belarmine had promised to introduce a number of measures to raise standards, including the installation of cameras across its 21 centres. The promises followed meetings with concerned parents.</p>
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		The creche has informed parents they will only be able to view the footage from the newly installed CCTV cameras after it has first been viewed by management.</p>
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		In a letter circulated to parents last week, the director of childcare, Dolores O&#39;Donnell, stated that a full-time staff member would be taken on specifically to monitor CCTV footage.</p>
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		However, she stressed that parents would only be allowed to watch video recordings in &quot;appropriate circumstances&quot;.</p>
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		<strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1em;">MISSING</strong></p>
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		&quot;We are required by law to balance the wish to be able to make footage available to parents on request with data-protection requirements and the general right to privacy of those appearing in the footage,&quot; she said in the letter to parents.</p>
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		The Stepaside creche was one of three &ndash; alongside the Little Harvard creche in Rathnew, Co Wicklow, and the Links creche in Malahide, Co Dublin &ndash; that featured in undercover footage shown on the &#39;Prime Time&#39; programme. All three insisted in the immediate aftermath that they were taking steps to improve childcare.</p>
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		After the programme had aired, management at the Giraffe creche in Stepaside said they were &quot;profoundly sorry&quot; for the distress caused.</p>
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		<a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/two-toddlers-walk-out-of-tv-probe-creche-29443667.html">http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/two-toddlers-walk-out-of-tv-probe-creche-29443667.html</a></p>
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