Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late and for missing the presentation. I went through the opening statement. I agree with much of what Senator Devine said. I have zero confidence in Tusla. The Shannon report took up a mere paragraph in Mr. McBride's opening statement. What follow-up has taken place in respect of the children referenced in the "Prime Time" programme? Has someone visited them? Are they safe? What follow-up has been done with the social workers who made the decisions?

If a garda makes a decision under section 12 to remove a child, how can anyone, trained as a social worker or not, make a decision two to three days later to place those children back in those homes? I honestly do not know how Tusla can stand over those decisions. I do not accept the point about people being afraid. If they are doing their jobs correctly, there is nothing to be afraid of. The majority of people who are not trained in social work can tell someone it was the wrong decision to return many of those children to their homes and keep a child in foster care when the birth mother made numerous complaints. We have failed children throughout the history of the State and we are doing it again. I thought when Tusla was created it would address many of these difficulties, but far too many children continue to fall through the cracks. The constituents I deal with give me much of the same feedback, unfortunately. This is that Tesla can be heavy-handed in certain cases but it does not seem to care in other situations. There does not seem to be any uniformity of approach.

Are members of staff involved in the Grace case still employed by Tusla? If so, why?