Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am speaking up for my former profession in that it is very easy to blame the social workers. What Deputy Fleming said is very distressing - that people give up. However, as professionals who work with children, we all have a responsibility to protect children.

If gardaí, public health nurses or school principals give up on these referrals, the existence of the children's services committee means the superintendent regularly meets the principal social worker and probation service staff, and often the same families are involved. If a build-up of 800 Garda referrals went unanswered it would stand to reason the inspector, or whoever is attending the children's services committee, would ask the principal social worker why he or she was not getting back to the Garda.