A West Belfast daycare centre has been condemned after it "sacked" six members of staff and told more than a dozen families they could no longer use the service they had paid for.
Acrewood Daycare on Grosvenor Road, which is partly owned and run by Hannahstown Parish priest Father Patrick Devlin, has been condemned for the way it treated its former staff and the families who used its service.
It is understood six members of staff were told they had been "made redundant" with less than a week's notice while 15 families received emails on the evening of April 30 saying their children could no longer attend the daycare in the morning on May 1.
One parent told Belfast Live they had just picked up their child from the daycare on April 30, waved goodbye to the staff and then a few hours later received an email saying they could no longer use the daycare the next day.
They said this left them unable to find childcare and forced them to take time off work due to the short notice. They have said they are still struggling to find a daycare place and claim this breached a contract requiring one month's notice if their child had to stop using the facility.
They said: "When I went to pick my child up on Thursday not a thing was said to me, everyone just smiled and waved and we thought we would be back in the morning. Then a couple of hours later I receive an email saying my child can no longer attend it and that was their last day.
"It left me and other parents having to take time off work because we couldn't get childcare at short notice. I cannot believe the way that we have been treated and we have not been able to get in contact with anyone from the daycare to find out about refunds and getting deposits back.
"We have contracts that say we should be given one month's notice if our child was going to lose their place there but instead we get an email the night before they were due to go there."
Staff told Belfast Live they had been told they "were being made redundant" with less than a week's notice and say they have been treated "disgracefully" and they had "essentially been sacked".
West Belfast People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll has spoken with some of the staff and families effected. He said: "Every parent deserves accessible, affordable and reliable childcare. Every childcare worker deserves fair pay, decent terms and conditions and job security.
"Leaving parents without childcare and laying off workers with less than 24 hours' notice is simply unacceptable, and arguably in breach of employment law. Several parents have been left distraught, with no access to alternative affordable childcare.
"Acrewood management owes parents and workers a full and urgent explanation of the circumstances that led to this decision and what efforts, if any, were made to avert this crisis."
Acrewood Daycare has been contacted for comment but not responded at the time of publication.