Mr. Gordon Jeyes:

I will take Deputy Ciara Conway's point of clarification. As part of the reform, we want to make lines of accountability clear. In a integrated system, they were not always. The principal social worker reports to area managers, and there are 17 of them. The area managers report to four service directors, who reported previously to me and report now to the chief operations officer. Principal social workers are four steps away from the staff the members have before them. There are clear lines of accountability now.

I will answer in order as best I can but clearly there were some overlapping questions which we will address as we go along. I have seen the IMPACT letter. I choose my words with care. Unfortunately, I take the Donald Rumsfeld reference - not knowing is the greatest failure - that is occurring here. The status of this information was not clear. There was insufficient system and overview and, therefore, numbers move around.

For the unions to say some of this was known is correct but we must move beyond the tradition of there being a risk, therefore I tell you there is a risk and as a result the risk gone. Those concerned are supposed to monitor the risk, ensure that work is prioritised and ensure that those who cannot be allocated immediately are reviewed on a regular basis because things change. With the committee's permission, we will come back to the issue of where we are in terms of what we have always openly reported - the cases that are waiting full allocation. That was one point the unions made.

The second was about resources. I confirm what they say that, in line with many other parts of the country, the social workers had said this is a resource issue and we do not have enough resources. The contention would be this is not a matter solely of resources. We are charged by the Government and the Dáil to make the most efficient and effective use possible of the resources made available to us by the Irish taxpayer. I am very disappointed by Deputy Sean Fleming's remarks, which underpin what we see, and from which we cannot duck, that in other areas the resources were being far more effectively managed. In other areas, the instruction we were given was being followed and we now have evidence that as a consequence services improved, and that was not happening here.

The most constructive discussions are in their proper place and we will continue the discussions with the union. What their letter does not mention is that there are also protracted discussions stating that there needs to be a change in the way in which services in the midlands - Laois, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath - are managed and that we were prepared to invest in that. Instead of only having two geographic principal social workers in charge of each of the two halves, there should be three. Duty and intake are connected with the role of social workers. The principal social worker referred to was the principal social worker who, in April, took up for the first time responsibility for a centralised intake, which is what happens across the country. In the midlands, that had been resisted with union support and, therefore, there was no consistency.