Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Rabbitte for coming before us this morning. I will continue on the same theme. Like Deputy Sherlock, I have a unique connection with Mr. Rabbitte. In our case, we share the same surname. It is a very unusual one. I hope to keep the tradition of having a Rabbitte in Leinster House for another while.

As I have said, I would like to pick up on Deputy Sherlock's theme. I am a Deputy for Galway East. In the past, people would not have come to us regularly to talk about issues relating to their engagement with Tusla. I assure Mr. Rabbitte that in the last three years, not a week has gone by without a representation coming before me looking for me to engage with a case. I think this is where relationships need to improve and openness needs to get a little better. If I have an issue regarding planning or anything else, I can deal with the county council. If I want to have conversations with the chief executive of the council or any of the planners, there is no issue. If I have an issue with the education and training boards, there is a direct line on which I can talk to people. That is not the experience with Tusla nationally, regionally or locally.

This is not the first time I have made this point in this room. I sometimes feel that it is a lockdown situation. As Mr. Rabbitte has acknowledged, matters are sometimes dealt with on a need-to-know basis. There must be dialogue and communication somewhere. There has to be an understanding. As my party's Front Bench spokesperson in this area, I feel I should have a relationship of openness with Tusla, but it is not there. That is not for the want of trying on my part. When people come before me, I fail to make progress in every single case. That should not be the case. When I engage with Tusla at local and regional levels, I am put on a recording. There is an open conversation. The call is recorded and there are three people sitting in on it. To me, that is not how business should be done. It leaves a sour taste. Ultimately, we are talking for children in all of these cases. We are concerned about the welfare of the child. Families are looking for help in circumstances in which they feel they cannot make it.

I welcome what Mr. Rabbitte has said here this morning about bringing us forward and showing more openness to us. That is something that actually needs to happen. I ask him to ensure it does during his time as chairperson. I have spoken previously about local government and the Department of Education and Skills. Why can we not have the same level of support? Why can we not have a two-way mechanism of communication between the Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs and Tusla? The Chairman of the committee has raised this matter on numerous occasions. I will leave it at that. I will take Mr. Rabbitte at face value when he states that he will make progress. That is what he has said to Deputy Sherlock. I do not like the manner in which Tusla operates at this time. There is a lack of responsiveness to phone calls and emails. When one makes a call, one feels that it is not welcome.

Mr. Rabbitte stated that he would love to get into a car and drive to the institutes of technology, etc., to meet those involved. I wonder whether we could look at this in another way by facilitating work experience. We have to give young people in institutes of technology an opportunity to do work experience. At present, there is no such opportunity. Surely there has to be a mentoring programme at third level. The transition year programme in secondary schools involves mentoring, etc. A young lady has come to me to say she would love to get work experience. She thought she would be able to do it in Yap Galway, but that service has now closed. I would love to get involved with that level of care. The young lady in question is in fourth year at Athlone of Institute of Technology. She would love to be able to apply for a job with Tusla when she finishes fourth year. People sometimes like to know what work experience is like, but it is not facilitated. I totally understand everything to do with Garda vetting, etc. These people would have it. They are six months from qualifying. Surely they are the people we should be putting the fishing line on and hooking in. That is not a commentary. It is a door that Mr. Rabbitte should be able to open. He should be able to facilitate work experience and mentoring programmes and academies. We are not talking about creating new spaces - we are talking about holding on to what is there.

I wonder whether the people who work in Tusla have the tools to do their jobs and to be facilitated in their caseloads. This is something that has arisen in the past. Has it arisen since Mr. Rabbitte took up this position? We know that people are totally over-burdened with caseloads. The difference between the caseloads of people who work in Tusla and the caseloads of people who work on similar matters in other organisations is twofold. Do the staff of Tusla have the necessary mechanisms, including the IT mechanisms, to upload information when they leave a house and sit in the car? They should be able to move on, rather than having to come back to the office to do paperwork that will then have to be aligned with the IT system. What is the level of IT?

Implementing the affordable childcare scheme has taken more than three years because the information technology was not sufficient. What IT is available to people on the ground? Finally, Mr. Rabbitte said there are a number of immediate priorities he would like to progress. Would he care to share them?