The Minister for Social Protection has said that parents need to be more involved with creches to ensure their children are getting the best care possible.

Joan Burton made the comments on Newstalk Breakfast, in light of the revealations in last night's Prime Time Investigates programme, "A Breach of Trust". The programme focused on three creches in Dublin and Wicklow, showing footage of children being flung onto mattresses, manhandled, shouted and cursed at and strapped into chairs for hours at time.

The programme also obtained a HSE inpsection report which showed that 75 percent of Irish childcare facilities were in breach of regulations last year.

Almost half of creches breached regulations on adult/child ratios and staff background checks, while over 40 percent failed to provide a safe environment for children.

Joan Burton said she was horrified by the programme and was surprised that the investigation displayed that there did not seem to be any management around. 

She said parents need to be much more involved with creches and need to be empowered.