Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

My understanding is developing now. If the social worker goes into court he or she is represented in an adversarial system. Presumably, the social worker historically would have made the assessment and made a recommendation that the child should go into whatever setting is the most appropriate. Historically, that would have been accepted by the judge of the day. I am assuming this and Mr. McCarthy can correct me if I am wrong. We now have a system where there is a guardian ad litemand a social worker. Presumably the guardian ad litemhas legal representation, the social worker has legal representation, the child is represented by the guardian ad litemand then there is the respondent. There could be five or six lawyers and probably a layer of experts on top of that again. There could be a psychologist or psychiatrist in the court. Is Mr. McCarthy saying that the psychologist or psychiatrist - he can tell us which is the appropriate profession - is then tasked with doing the assessment of the need or of the parent before a judgment is made?