Parents of over 40 children attending a Bank of Ireland staff creche off Baggot Street in Dublin have been forced to find alternative childcare provision this week after they were given just 24 hours' notice by bank management last Thursday that it was to close the following day.
A spokeswoman for the bank, which has operated the creche since September 1991, said it had been necessary to close the facility after a regular independent safety audit last month.
This revealed concerns that there was only one fire exit on the upper floors of the four-storey Georgian building .
The bank had reacted to a second specialist review of the facility on foot of the February review, which upheld the findings of the previous report, she added. She said the bank does not have any plans to sell the building, which is located on the corner of Baggot Street and Herbert Street, and denied that the decision to close was a commercial one.
The facility employs 12 full and part-time staff, who are not directly employed by the bank. It is understood that they will receive two months' redundancy pay.
However, the spokeswoman acknowledged that the concerns which emerged in the reports had not previously been noted during annual HSE creche inspections.
"We are committed to the provision of creche facilities and we are looking, and have been looking, for alternatives since mid-February," she said.
The closure was "regrettable", she added.