Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 21 October 2021

Public Accounts Committee

2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020

9:30 am

Photo of Paul McAuliffePaul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Ms Duggan has touched on two of the points in the report. I am delighted to hear Tusla is more than familiar with the report and is participating in the inter-agency response. I know it is something the Taoiseach’s office is also involved in. Regarding the two issues she touched on, recruitment is one element but retention is another. In Dublin north city, 4% of cases are allocated within the 40 days whereas the national average for Tusla is 22%. There is something else going on in Dublin north city and it is obviously to do with the difficulty of the work for many social workers and the retention issue. The report points out that the appointment of more senior social workers would be one way of responding to that, giving people more responsibility, obviously, but also perhaps keeping them in post for longer. I wonder if that is something Tusla has had an opportunity to consider.

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