Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 27 February 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Tusla: Chairperson Designate

Photo of Denise MitchellDenise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish Mr. Rabbitte all the best in this new role. I had questions to ask him but he has answered these. I want to touch on the promotion of Tusla. This is vital work. I am well aware of the fantastic work Tusla is doing across all communities in this State, in supporting families and young children. I recall speaking to the previous CEO and saying to him that this was something that we needed to get out there. These are the positive stories and good work that is being done in communities. I wish Mr. Rabbitte the very best with that and, hopefully, that will be taken on board. There are families who are not even aware that these services exist. I would very much like to see that being rolled out across communities.

I was very happy to hear Mr. Rabbitte talk about the retention of social workers. This is not only a problem for the agency, but it is also one for the children. We have children who have developed really good relationships with social workers that were built on trust. When social workers move on and a new social worker comes in and that trust needs to be rebuilt again. I welcome the fact Mr. Rabbitte talked about social work administrative staff. That is vital because we need our social workers on the ground, working with children and the families. We do not want to see them having to go back to offices and getting bogged down in administrative work. Does Mr. Rabbitte believe that we could look at the possibility of an internal operational review of that particular kind of work being carried out in Tusla itself?

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