Mr. Gordon Jeyes:

There is a philosophical issue at play here. I absolutely struggle with the term "non-recognised" schools that is used in Ireland. I also struggle with our role in that. There are very significant issues involved here that we need to unpack in 2016. We will certainly be referring in our business plan to the need for further discussions with the Department of Education and Skills in this regard.

The Chairman mentioned specific issues of budget. There will be investment, for example, of approximately €6 million in unallocated cases. We are doing that on an objective basis because some areas were underfunded because of what was inherited from health boards and the HSE. That money will also be used to strengthen our intervention arrangements where there has been a backlog to help staff to get back on the front foot. Such backlogs were caused in some instances by high levels of maternity leave, which we have now resolved, or because of particularly demanding cases. I can think of parts of the country where the service was running well but then a very demanding case involving a lot of children being taken into care at the one time pushed everything else back. We need to intervene to help in such circumstances and there are resources available to do that. There are also resources available to make sure we strengthen the human resources, finance, communications and quality support services provided by the organisation to the local areas. We want services delivered at the most local level practicable within the €38 million allocation, as well as meeting our current rate of expenditure. There is funding available to address these issues.

I have already dealt with the point about human resources. We accepted that the centre was not working but that was the hand we were dealt. Despite that, we are developing our own systems. I also accept the point about the mix of social work teams which is quite difficult to achieve. We have now reached an agreement with IMPACT regarding transfers so we will not have our own staff applying for transfers through the open system and will deal with that separately. Sometimes there is a particular problem with the mix of teams in urban areas because of the high turnover. We find better performance in the rural areas because the teams are more settled and balanced.

I have addressed the issue of unallocated cases. While I completely accept Deputy Ó Caoláin's point that the figure of just under 6,000 is unacceptable, I would point out that at the beginning of the year that figure was over 8,000. Even within the resources we have currently, staff have dealt with the issue well and made a magnificent contribution. We now have additional resources to take that further.

The area of guardians ad litemneeds to be reformed. It should not be part of the work of this agency, whether in terms of paying or directing such guardians because they-----