Around 100 people have held a protest outside a Hyde & Seek crèche in Dublin this afternoon.

The protesters are calling for the childcare chain to be shut down following an RTÉ Investigates programme which raised concerns over the standards of care at the company.

Undercover researchers, sent by the programme to work for the company, witnessed repeated breaches of childcare regulations.

The Child and Family Agency Tusla is liaising with Gardaí over the revelations in the programme.

Meanwhile, Hyde & Seek has said it is addressing the issues raised.

Protesters put up posters at the Hyde & Seek Tolka branch in Dublin, 26-07-2019. Image: Sam Boal/RollingNews

Protesters this afternoon attached posters to the shutter of the company’s crèche on the Tolka Road in Dublin, calling for action to be taken.

“That report on TV the other night was absolutely appalling,” one said.

“It was heartrending for any parent or grandparent.”

“It is shocking what we saw on TV; it is just hard to believe,” said another.

Around 100 people have held a protest outside the Tolka Road branch of the Hyde and Seek crèche

It’s after an #RTEInvestigates programme raised concerns about standards of care at the company pic.twitter.com/Lm7lDxT81f

— Stephen Murphy (@Stephen_Murphy5) July 26, 2019

Organisers said they wanted the company shut down and called on “anybody who has a heart or who has children” to come down to the protest.

The company has four crèches in Dublin city and caters for children from three months to 12-years-old.

Two-year-old Lilly Barr joins local residents protesting outside the Hyde & Seek Tolka branch in Dublin, 26-07-2019. Image: Sam Boal/RollingNews

On the programme, the undercover researchers – who held the required childcare qualifications and were Garda vetted – found issues with conditions in sleep rooms, where cots were packed too tightly together for staff to appropriately care for sleeping children.

They also recorded a number of occasions where up to 20 children were left with one care worker four hour-long periods at a time.

The programme also claimed the company’s Glasnevin crèche went unregistered for some 14 months – and as such was not subject to regulatory inspections and checks.

Hyde & Seek has pledged to bring in an external consultant to review its management structure and services.

With reporting from Stephen Murphy on the Tolka Road in Dublin