Mr. Bernard Gloster:

As the Deputy knows, we operate the Tusla education support service, which is the former educational welfare officer service. That service continued to work, even during school closures, supporting the vulnerable children who would have already been known to those officers.

Approximately 6,000 children per year are made known to the Tusla education support service because of various aspects of concern around attendance and associated matters. It is a relatively small but nonetheless important number in the context of approximately 1 million schoolchildren in the country. Schools report to us twice per year with a particular emphasis on absence over 20 days. Where the absence over 20 days is explained and understood by the school, it is not an issue for our service. Where it is not explained, the focus of attention must be to ensure children's right to an education. We also want to see that the many other needs and supports that help children to access education are followed through. That is what the service does very well.

We do not yet have full reporting back from schools on the returning to school phase, but in addition to the twice yearly report of school attendance, the service has followed up with a large number of schools and is obtaining data. It has nearly completed that process. These data will identify the number of children who did not return to school after the Covid restrictions. While those data are not finalised and need to be scrutinised with the Department of Education, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and our own service, the head of the education support service has indicated to me that there is no major concern with regard to the number of children not returning to school after the Covid restrictions, as distinct from the number of children who would have been at risk of dropping out of school even in previous years, outside of the pandemic period.

Having said that, any child dropping out of school is a concern. The support system for children who may not return to school is very extensive. It comprises our education support service, the school completion programmes we fund in DEIS school areas and many other supports. To be fair, the Department of Education itself went a significant distance to recognise the challenge for schools with regard to returning after the Covid restrictions. Quite significant supports have been put into in that space. It remains a work in progress but, at the moment, it seems to be going in accordance with what all the professionals would expect.

With regard to the process around referrals relating to sexual abuse and the different experiences people have had, I may ask the chief social worker, Mr. Ger Brophy, to comment briefly. People do experience different types and levels of service because of the consistency factor about which we have talked. The core process of responding to referrals is quite uniform, and increasingly so. Perhaps Mr. Brophy will comment on that issue.