Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minster for the clarification on the €12 million capital allocation in his stated allocation for Tusla for 2015. I do not expect the Minister will know but I ask in case he might. Does he have any idea as to how that money might be expended in the course of 2015? Are there any particular projects for which it might be earmarked?

I refer again to an issue I have mentioned to the Minister. It is not to cause him any discomfort, but to say to him that it merits further examination within the Child and Family Agency. When the Minister read out the criteria for intervention, he talked about immediate risk. Those were the words he used in his reply to me. The word "immediate" could constitute something very much in the current. It is very important to bear in mind that we have had over the past 12 months a number of cases that have come to public attention where the word "immediate" as I as a layperson understand it did not or might not have suggested itself, yet there were very serious and tragic outcomes. Substantial risk had been established by social workers in relation to some of those cases. I acknowledge that within the budget here this is not going to be physically possible. This is a problem. We need more investment in Tusla, but I believe and there is a belief outside these walls that because of the constraints of the allocation, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has newly determined what the activation quotient must be in terms of immediate risk.

There is a need to accept the following in regard to substantial risk and immediate risk; use whatever marker one will. If a child is established to be at risk, the employment of the word "immediate" is less relevant than it might be in other instances. This is very important and needs to be looked at in the context of the alarming and tragic situations highlighted in the course of the last 12 months. I raise the matter because I fear that those tragic situations will continue to present until we are better provided and better prepared to intervene where a real and substantial risk exists. I ask the Minister to give me whatever response he feels is appropriate, but the reason I raise it is to urge the greatest possible exercise of his and the Department's influence within Government to ensure that no child is left in an unsatisfactory position of risk because we are not able to fund the necessary supports and interventions.

The Minister mentioned, in his response on this area to questions I have posed previously, the numbers in respect of recruitment.

Approximately 100 additional social workers have been recruited while more than 200 "are in the process of...". "In the process of" has been cited to the committee on many occasions previously. It must be a long process. I acknowledge it is important that we have the right people to do this most important work. Can the Minister give a breakdown of the recruitment process and how it applies to the number in process at this point in time? When will they get across the line and be properly engaged in the work that they, and we, hope they will undertake?

The Minister also failed to point out that there is a greater turnover of social workers. Statistics have shown that to be the case over a number of years. A considerable number leave not only at the end of their natural life service. Prior to the Minister taking up this portfolio, a comparison of previous recruitment data and the exodus of social workers highlighted a net loss. Will the Minister focus on that to give us a sense of where we are at? What is the total number in service? By "in service", I do not include those who are on sick leave, maternity leave, career breaks through whatever special arrangement may apply, and so on. How speedily does he expect the number in process to move forward into their intended roles as social workers under the Child and Family Agency?