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

I have a personal interest in this. I know that the turnover of social workers, particularly in the region to which we are referring, is high, which has negative knock-on effects on the children in care. As the witnesses will be aware, such children build relationships with social workers who then move on. There are knock-on effects when new social workers are constantly coming into the system. There are cases of children in the care system for relatively short periods who are on their ninth social worker. That in itself has a negative effect on them. Why are social workers constantly being lost?

The witnesses said that social workers typically have 15 live cases. What is that like for social workers on a day-to-day basis? What is expected of them?