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

No, certainly not. I am going to leave it in the hands of the electorate when it comes to it.

In the entirety of all that Mr. Jeyes has said here this morning, I am being careful in what I say, as quite correctly the focus is on the children. I understand the referencing in regard to management but I have to raise with him a matter of concern. It gives me no pleasure to do so because I have had incidents of staff concerns within Tusla in regard to the regime within Tusla itself. There are those in the child care sector who have felt that the regime was less than caring of the role and work of people who have given a lifetime of service to the sector. I feel it would be remiss of me not to make reference to it. In paragraph 1.5, output 5, Mr. Jeyes referred to leadership development programmes. Leadership development programmes must include - there is no reference to this in anything he said this morning or in the responses we have received - the state of the organisation, the sense of a team and the sense of being appreciated and valued within Tusla. I note among the key requirements for the role the reference, "including the capacity to engage staff". If there were only one or two cases I would not be making the point here today. Sadly and regrettably, I have to say I have had a number of people contact me, some currently in service, others who have taken the decision to leave or felt that they were compelled to leave. What is the current state of the staff relationship within Tusla? I ask this because it is clear that we need people who feel comfortable, appreciated and valued within their roles if they are to perform to the level we expect of them in catering to the needs of the most vulnerable of our children. There is an issue there. I do not know what has caused it or why it is the case but it is an issue that needs to be addressed. I ask that whoever is replacing Mr. Jeyes would note my comments here today that we do not want an unhappy camp in terms of Tusla going forward.