Ms Breda O'Donovan:

Pockets of the country have an out-of-hours service, particularly over bank holiday weekends and so on, which involve a number being given to foster carers which they can ring if they have a concern. People from some areas where that has occurred have said that when such a number is given out, it does not get a huge number of calls and is only contacted in emergencies. However, the Deputy is correct in what she says. I was a foster carer for many years and all the issues seemed to happen at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. or over the weekend. That is when one needs access to a social worker to bounce ideas off. I had a social worker friend in Cork who I contacted several times. She helped me out on several weekends and advised me where to go but that was just between friends rather than her acting in an official capacity.