Post-tax profits at a family run childcare company that was at the centre of controversy following an RTÉ Investigates programme last year increased 13-fold to €729,206.
New accounts filed by Hyde & Seek Childcare Ltd show post-tax profits of €729,206 for 2022, compared to post-tax profits of €54,004 for 2021.
At the end of December last, the firm was sitting on accumulated profits of €3.75 million. The cash funds at the firm grew from €252,787 to €698,112.
The business featured in an RTÉ Investigates programme ‘Creches, Behind Closed Doors’, which was broadcast in July 2019.
The programme used undercover reporting to investigate the standard of care in the creche chain and sparked a Tusla investigation and eventual prosecution against former director at the firm, Anne Davy (68).
The latest annual return for Hyde & Seek Childcare Ltd shows that Anne Davy retains a 75 per cent shareholding in the business. The two directors of the business are listed as Peter Davy and Siobhan Davy.
Guilty plea
In January of last year at Dublin District Court, Judge Anthony Halpin fined Anne Davey €4,000 after she pleaded guilty to breaching childcare regulations.
In 2019, the Minister for Children brought a prosecution with 22 charges and Anne Davy entered guilty pleas to three offences that included the disrespectful handling of a child at her Tolka Road creche on May 8th, 2019.
An undertaking was given in court on behalf of Anne Davey to never work in frontline childcare again.
Pleading for leniency, defence solicitor, Michael Staines said his client had been vilified in the media, on social media and "even a Government minister got involved in criticising her”.
Hyde & Seek Childcare Ltd has a 51 per cent share in Hyde & Seek Childcare Glasnevin Ltd with Siobhan Davy owning the remaining 49 per cent.
Separate accounts filed by Hyde & Seek Glasnevin Ltd show that it recorded post tax profits of €1.3 million for 2022 - almost a nine-fold increase on the post tax profits of €148,802 in 2021.
At the end of last year December, the firm had accumulated profits of €1.82 million. The company’s cash funds increased almost five-fold to €2.09 million. Numbers employed increased from 21 to 31 last year.
A note attached to the accounts states that Hyde & Seek Childcare Ltd advanced loans to Hyde & Seek Glasnevin Limited during 2022 and it funded part of the construction costs of the new creche facility and the purchase of two new properties.
A separate note states that the company has completed construction of the new creche facility in Finglas Road.
The Hyde & Seek website states that “we aim to provide the highest quality of childcare in every aspect of our care and education programme which we have been providing since 1998”.
It adds: “We are a family run business which can personally respond to the families it serves. Our purpose designed crèches offer a child-friendly, safe and secure surrounding.”
It further states: "We offer a child centred approach where children are allowed to develop their creativity and individuality, building self-confidence and their own identity.”
