The Optus Glean promise: predictability
Three pillars. Three commitments. No exceptions.
Predictable cost. One fixed monthly fee, set against a defined scope and an annual indexed review. No variable hours. No surprise invoices. No padded callout charges. Budgeted once, paid by Direct Debit, reviewed once a year.
Predictable presence. The site is cleaned every day it is meant to be cleaned. A named primary cleaner is rostered to your contract, supported by a named relief who is already vetted, inducted, and trained on the same colour-coded system and IPC standard. The schedule does not depend on whether one person is available on one day.
Predictable freedom. A single point of accountability. One contract. One named manager. One number to call. Cleaning is no longer a problem the school has to manage — it is a service that runs.
Why cleaning in Ireland is structurally hard to get right
Most cleaning provision in Ireland — including in healthcare-adjacent settings — is delivered by a workforce that is structurally part-time and casual. A significant proportion of operatives across the sector also work as healthcare assistants in nursing homes, residential care, and acute hospitals. Cleaning shifts are typically taken when healthcare shifts are not available, and released when they are. This pattern is consistent with CSO labour data on accommodation, food, and administrative-support employment, and it is the underlying reason that buyers across Ireland encounter inconsistency from agencies they have contracted in good faith.
The pattern is reinforced by two background pressures specific to Ireland. Housing affordability limits the catchment for any role paying at or near the minimum wage. The Contract Cleaning Employment Regulation Order rate of €14.80 per hour for 2026, set under the Labour Court's sectoral employment framework, sits close enough to flexible care-sector pay that operatives drift toward whichever shift pays slightly more on the day. Both pressures pull cleaning staff away from contracted shifts and toward casual healthcare work.
The result, from the buyer's perspective, is the experience most practice managers, facilities leads, and procurement officers in Ireland describe: a clean that is half-completed when the contracted cleaner is available, missed entirely when they are not, and accompanied by recurring conversations with the agency about cover that may or may not arrive.
This is the structural problem Optus Glean is built to solve. Our operatives are fully PAYE-employed with guaranteed weekly hours, paid leave, and pension contributions under Irish auto-enrolment. They are paid above the ERO floor deliberately — because the structural reliability of the service depends on the cleaner choosing to remain in the role rather than rotating through casual healthcare shifts. A named primary cleaner is assigned to your site, supported by a named relief, both Garda-vetted and trained to Optus Glean's documented HIQA-aligned IPC standard.
Why Childcare Cleaning Is Different
Children, particularly those under five, are more vulnerable to infection than adults. Their immune systems are still developing. They put toys in their mouths. They crawl on floors. They touch surfaces constantly and then touch their faces. A cleaning regime that works for an office or a shop is completely inadequate for a childcare setting.
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, registers and inspects all early years services in Ireland. The Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016 set specific requirements for premises hygiene, including documented cleaning schedules, child-safe cleaning products, and standards for nappy changing, food preparation, and sleep areas. A poor Tusla inspection can result in conditions on your registration, increased inspection frequency, or enforcement action — any of which can damage your reputation with parents and your ability to operate.
Optus Glean provides specialist childcare cleaning that meets every Tusla requirement. Every product we use is child-safe, eco-labelled, and non-toxic. Every area is cleaned according to its specific risk level. Every visit is documented for Tusla audit. And every operative assigned to a childcare setting is Garda vetted and trained in childcare-specific protocols.
Room-by-Room Cleaning
Baby Room
The baby room requires the most intensive cleaning in any creche. Babies crawl on floors, chew toys, and are changed multiple times per day. Our baby room clean covers floor cleaning with child-safe disinfectant, cot and sleep mat sanitisation, nappy changing station disinfection (dedicated red colour-coded equipment), toy cleaning and sanitisation, highchair and feeding area cleaning, and all surfaces within baby reach.
Toddler and Preschool Rooms
- Floor: vacuumed (carpet) or mopped (hard floor) with child-safe products
- Tables and chairs: wiped and sanitised (paint, glue, food residue removed)
- Toy storage and shelving: organised and dusted
- Art and craft areas: surfaces cleared of materials, cleaned, and dried
- Reading corners and soft furnishings: vacuumed and spot cleaned
- Doors, handles, and light switches: wiped (child-height priority)
- Windows: interior glass cleaned at child height (handprints and smudges)
Kitchen and Food Preparation
Many creches prepare meals and snacks on-site. This brings food safety obligations under HACCP regulations, in addition to Tusla requirements. Our kitchen cleaning covers all cooking surfaces, equipment, storage, floors, and waste areas to HACCP standards. We provide documented cleaning schedules with colour-coded equipment to prevent cross-contamination. For creches that use a servery rather than a full kitchen, we clean serving surfaces, warming equipment, and food distribution areas.
Nappy Changing Areas
Nappy changing areas are the highest infection risk zone in any creche. Faecal bacteria and viruses (rotavirus, norovirus) can survive on surfaces for hours. Our protocol uses hospital-grade, child-safe disinfectant on all changing surfaces. Dedicated red colour-coded equipment is used exclusively in nappy areas and never cross-contaminates other rooms. Nappy bins are emptied and sanitised. Hand wash stations are cleaned and restocked.
Sleep Rooms
- Cots and sleep mats: surfaces cleaned and disinfected
- Bedding: collected for laundry (if applicable)
- Floor: vacuumed and mopped
- Low lighting fixtures: dusted
- Air quality: room ventilated during cleaning
Washrooms and Toileting Areas
Child-sized toilets, sinks, and potty areas require careful cleaning with child-safe products. All sanitaryware is cleaned and disinfected daily. Steps, potty chairs, and training seats are sanitised. Floor areas around toilets receive extra attention. Soap, paper towels, and hand sanitiser are replenished.
Childcare Cleaning Pricing
| Service | Price Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Daily cleaning (small creche, up to 20 children) | €400 – €550/month | All rooms, kitchen, 5 days/week |
| Daily cleaning (medium creche, 20-40 children) | €550 – €800/month | Multiple rooms, baby room incl. |
| Daily cleaning (large childcare centre, 40+) | €800 – €1,200/month | Full facility, outdoor areas |
| Monthly deep clean | €250 – €600 | Behind furniture, toy deep clean, grout |
| Outbreak response clean | €200 – €500 | Enhanced virucidal protocol |
Note: Prices exclusive of VAT. All operatives are Garda vetted. All products are child-safe and eco-labelled.
Outbreak Response
When a creche experiences an outbreak of gastroenteritis, hand-foot-and-mouth, or another infectious disease, standard cleaning is not sufficient. Optus Glean provides an outbreak response service that can be activated within 24 hours. This includes a full facility clean with virucidal disinfectant effective against the specific pathogen, toy immersion or surface sanitisation, soft furnishing treatment, and enhanced daily cleaning for the duration of the outbreak. We coordinate with the HSE Public Health department and your Tusla inspector to ensure the response meets their requirements.
Serving Childcare Facilities Across Ireland
Ireland has over 4,500 registered early years services. From home-based childminders to large purpose-built childcare centres, Optus Glean provides Tusla-compliant cleaning for creches, Montessori schools, preschools, after-school services, and school-age childcare. We serve independent operators, childcare chains (including Giraffe, Tigers, and Park Academy), community creches, and workplace creches across all 26 counties.
Frequently asked questions
How much does school cleaning cost in Ireland in 2026?
A school is priced as a fixed monthly fee per site against a term-based scope: daily after-hours cleaning of classrooms, washrooms, corridors and shared areas, plus scheduled holiday-period deep cleans. The Contract Cleaning ERO 2026 sets a €14.80/hour labour floor, but reputable providers quote the contract on a multi-year term with an annual indexed review and a single monthly Direct Debit, never per hour.
What standards apply to school cleaning in Ireland?
Department of Education school cleaning guidance, the Children First Act 2015 (child-safeguarding obligations on every adult on site), HSA requirements under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, and HSE Public Health guidance on outbreak response. The cleaning programme must produce a documented audit trail that supports the school's own child-safeguarding statement and risk assessments.
What child-safeguarding requirements apply to school cleaning staff?
Every cleaner working on a school site must be Garda-vetted via the National Vetting Bureau before they enter the building, briefed on the school's Child Safeguarding Statement under the Children First Act 2015, and identifiable on site (lanyard, uniform, signed-in). A reputable provider also runs the cleaning programme outside teaching hours so cleaners and pupils do not share spaces.
How are school cleans scheduled around the term?
A typical school contract runs daily evening cleans across term time and steps up to programmed deep cleans during mid-term, Christmas, Easter, and the summer break. Summer is the heavy lift — floors stripped and resealed, soft furnishings deep-cleaned, washrooms re-grouted where needed. The fixed monthly fee covers both term-time and holiday-period work; budgets do not need to flex with the calendar.
What's the difference between PAYE and casual cleaning contracts in education?
A PAYE-employed cleaner is on payroll with the company that signs the contract, paid above the Contract Cleaning ERO €14.80/hour floor, Garda-vetted, with paid leave and PRSI through the employer. A casual or self-employed operative is none of those things. PAYE staffing is the only model that supports a named primary cleaner with continuity across an academic year — and continuity is what child-safeguarding compliance actually requires.
How do I evaluate a cleaning provider for a school?
Ask whether the cleaners are PAYE-employed and Garda-vetted before they enter the site, who the named primary cleaner and relief are for the building, and whether the provider can produce a written method statement and chemical SDS file that satisfies the school's Health & Safety statement under HSA rules. Holiday-period deep-clean delivery should be in the contract, not an extra.
What should be in a cleaning contract for a school?
Defined daily scope and frequency per zone (classrooms, washrooms, corridors, canteens, gym, staff areas), the holiday-period deep-clean programme, after-hours scheduling, named primary cleaner with Garda vetting on file, child-safeguarding briefing, the chemical regime with SDS, fixed monthly fee, annual indexed review, and a clean exit clause. No per-hour pricing. No "ad-hoc" charges every time a holiday clean is scheduled.
How does a cleaning provider handle outbreaks at a school?
An outbreak — norovirus, hand-foot-and-mouth, flu — triggers the school to consult HSE Public Health, who advise on enhanced cleaning frequency and chemical regime. The cleaning provider should be on call to step the programme up: more frequent touchpoint cleaning, validated disinfection contact times, and documented evidence of what was cleaned and when. In Ireland, this typically means same-day response from the named primary cleaner or named relief, not a "we'll get to you next week" agency dispatch.
How Optus Glean handles staff shortages
Every Optus Glean contract is staffed on a redundancy model rather than a single-person model. A named primary cleaner is assigned to the site at contract start. A named relief is assigned alongside them. Both are PAYE-employed by Optus Glean, both are Garda-vetted, both are inducted on the site's specific layout, access protocols, and colour-coded equipment system, and both are trained to the same documented HIQA-aligned IPC standard. Substitution is built into the contract from the first day, not arranged on the day cover is needed.
Sick day cover. When the primary cleaner is unable to work, the named relief is deployed. The school site contact is notified by 06:30 on the morning of the absence by SMS or email, with the name of the relief who is attending. The relief follows the same task list, uses the same equipment, and finishes within the same window. The standard of clean is unchanged because the relief was prepared for this scenario before the absence happened.
Annual leave cover. Annual leave is rostered weeks in advance and the relief is scheduled to cover the full leave period. The school is informed at the start of the leave period — not on the morning leave begins. This is the same model used in clinical rota management: known absences are pre-staffed, not improvised.
Long-term cover. If the primary cleaner is absent for more than two weeks (extended illness, parental leave, bereavement leave), cover is drawn from the wider trained bench rather than relying on the single named relief. The school is kept informed of the cover plan, the named individuals involved, and the expected duration. Continuity of standard is maintained because every operative on the bench is trained to the same documented standard.
Permanent reassignment. If the primary cleaner moves to a new permanent role within Optus Glean — promotion, relocation, retirement — the relief is promoted to primary on a planned timetable, a new relief is trained on the site, and both are introduced to the school before the handover takes effect. There is no day on which the school discovers, after the fact, that their cleaner has changed.
Substitution is Optus Glean's operational problem, not the school's risk to absorb. The buyer pays a fixed monthly fee for a defined scope to be delivered, every day it is meant to be delivered. The mechanism by which we deliver it — primary, relief, bench, retraining — is our cost to manage and our risk to carry.
Last reviewed: 2026-05-06
