Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the representatives for their attendance. The motivation for asking them to appear was to gain an understanding of the dynamics within and between HIQA and Tusla. I am trying to understand the dynamic that exists in terms of the regulation of social workers. CORU is the regulatory body for registration and so on. However, I do not have an understanding of the dynamic that exists between HIQA and, for example, the social care or social work framework. HIQA may have, for example, 14 inspectors operating across the country. Its opening statement states:

Tusla cannot rely on recurring staff shortages as the default reason for failing to deliver an efficient and safe service to children and their families. Nor can they use this as an excuse for not providing an environment where social workers and social care workers can enjoy doing the core job they are qualified to do.

Is that statement based on a determination or examination of the dynamic that exists as between the client or service user and the social worker? Does that mean that HIQA's 14 inspectors speak to each social worker throughout the country in order to allow that adjudication to be made? How does HIQA determine the level or quality of contact time? How does it determine the level of bureaucracy and paperwork? Can it manage that time? Can it measure the time social workers spend in contact with their clients and the time they spend on paperwork? Does HIQA go down to that level of granularity?