Mr. Bernard Gloster:

On retention, this year Tusla saw a slight reversal in the trend, with the numbers coming in slightly exceeding those leaving. I cannot claim any credit for that. It was happening before I came, to be fair to everybody. It is not something I would be complacent about. One bad swing and we could be in reverse again. On increasing numbers, I think I responded to Deputy Neville that we have just commenced a sponsorship programme with Maynooth University to try to increase the numbers but also to offer sponsorship to some social work students so that we would sponsor them in their training and then take them into our employment. It is a slow burner because the availability of social workers, no more than nurses or indeed other health and social care professionals across the globe, is less than what is needed because of demographic trends. Therefore, there are two parts to the issue.

The first is that we must try to maximise supply. The opportunity for social care workers who have a four-year honours degree to do a conversion is something that Sligo Institute of Technology has tried. I have met a representative of the Irish Association of Social Care Educators and am very anxious to explore with it the possibilities while at the same time protecting the fact that we also need social care workers.

There will come a point in childcare services in Ireland where we will have to examine the standard and regulation around assigning social workers to each case and looking at the possibility of social work-led multidisciplinary teams, where a social worker has a team available to him or her that might comprise youth and community workers, social care workers or others whom the social worker can deploy to different cases. The cases would be under the supervision of the social worker, not unlike a consultant doctor with a medical team. We will have to explore different ways. If we do not, we will live by the failed standard for an allocated social worker and I will have to come before the committee, as will my successors, and there will continue to be unallocated cases.

I am glad that the Deputy mentioned administrative staff. Administrative staff often become the subject of public opprobrium. For instance, they are seen as pen pushers and it is thought that there are too many of them. Part of the agency conversion that we are pursuing involves up to 130 grade 3 clerical staff who are supporting front-line teams. They are agency staff.

The agency staff were brought in to make assessments because of the very issues the Deputy articulated, and these are being pursued in the agency conversion programme. We have the full support of the Fórsa trade union in that respect. While it is not enough, it is probably as much as is currently possible within our affordable pay bill, although it will always consider children and young people's services committees, CYPSCs.

I am glad the Deputy mentioned that the day before yesterday, the Minister launched the revised, updated plan for CYPSC for the period 2019 to 2024, inclusive. I believe that CYPSC's footprint is everywhere now, although I will check that for the committee in case I am offside in that regard. It covers virtually all the geographic space at this stage. Not unlike the creative community alternative issue we discussed with Deputy Sherlock earlier, the fantastic aspect of CYPSC is that it is multi-agency. While it is not casework based, it is solutions-based for communities. It has come a long way from the original childcare committees that arose from Sustaining Progress many years ago.

As an example, I met one of the north County Dublin CYPSCs during the week that had an issue with the prevalence of homelessness, including that of infants. Due to the limited space for people in emergency accommodation, it designed a mat kit with high-stimulus toys and so on for children, and it was distributed to 250 children. That was an initiative taken entirely by CYPSC. It is an example of where its local adaptability can have a practical effect and build inter-agency relationships, which become important in child protection cases. On the basis of the plan launched for 2019 to 2024, inclusive, CYPSCs are very much a feature of the mix for the future.