Mr. Bernard Gloster:

I thank the Chairman and the committee for the invitation to appear before them today. I am joined as supporting witnesses by my colleagues, Mr. Pat Smyth, director of finance, and Ms. Kate Duggan, national director of services and integration and deputy CEO. I have, as requested, provided the members with a short briefing document as an appendix to my opening statement and so I will confine my remarks here to some key themes.

The agency received referrals to its child protection and welfare service in 2020 at just below 70,000. It is important to note that in the early stages of the Covid-19 response, we saw a concerning decrease. I am satisfied this concern was proactively addressed and referral rates recovered. Those children of specific levels of concern requiring a continuing social work service for a period were either at home - just over 15,000 - or in State care - 5,882 - at December 2020.

Not all referrals to the agency involve an abuse concern and many are welfare-based. Some 22,300 of these children received a family support service in 2020 while 2,943 young adults received an aftercare service, including additional supports to reflect the context of the pandemic. This is an area for further development.

The agency focused almost exclusively throughout the first months of the pandemic in ensuring the provision of domestic and sexual violence response services, child protection services and children in care supports. In our specialist services separate to those above, 2020 saw key activity and statutory duties fulfilled in several ways. Members will be aware of the repeated commentary on the ability of the agency to recruit staff and fill approved posts over recent years. Tusla had developed an increasing dependence on temporary agency staffing. A programme to convert these to Tusla employment took place in 2020 resulting in a reduction to a more appropriate level and a decrease in spend on agency staffing of €19.5 million, which is continuing thus far to a saving of approximately €4 million annually. This has been maintained in 2021. Our focus then shifted to improved graduate recruitment.

I also again note that concern for staff safety and welfare remains a priority in the context of understanding the staffing of the agency. Within the workforce, social work recruitment and retention remains a serious challenge. Generating supply is one area of activity. The agency participates in the Department-led social work education group and, separately, the chair of the agency and I have engaged with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on this issue. Increased supply and retention efforts alone will not deal with this issue, and there is a critical need to examine the utilisation of multidisciplinary teams for child protection and welfare work. That noted, Tusla at the end of 2020 was effectively at full employment of its funded workforce, representing a substantial improvement on previous years.

Tusla is subject to regulatory oversight from several sources, including HIQA, the Data Protection Commissioner, the Health and Safety Authority, the Ombudsman, the Ombudsman for Children, the Information Commissioner and the Comptroller and Auditor General. Progress is being made in respect of the various functions that lead to more improved compliance, but there can be no doubting that challenges remain. In respect of care and protection services, we have seen significant improvements in many HIQA reports while also remaining clear that some individual services or parts of them are found to be non-compliant, and this is concerning.

The agency concluded the year 2020 in a stable position financially through one-off adjustment and relative to the projected deficits cumulating from activity of previous years. The target of the agency was to achieve a stable position coming into 2021, and thanks to the intervention of the Minister and the Department, this was achieved. I am concerned regarding the long-term challenges for some of our funded organisations in the community and voluntary sector. Efforts are continuing to mitigate those challenges to the greatest extent possible. These organisations, many of them service providers, are critical to the effectiveness of the agency. We did make some progress in 2020 and 2021 for this sector on a once-off basis. However, the long-term solution to the challenge is beyond the scope of Tusla.

Eighteen out of the past 24 months during which I have been CEO of the agency have been characterised by two major events: Covid-19, and the cyberattack on HSE systems in May of this year. The impact of both is still evident and well documented. I am pleased to report to this committee that, notwithstanding these major disruptions, the board and the executive of the agency have remained focused on two key activities. The first is the continuity of critical services to children and families throughout those events. Tusla, as the State child protection agency, was identified by Government at the start of the pandemic and in the cyberattack as one of the key essential front-line services to be maintained. Our response capability to each crisis was of a very high standard.

The second is the continuity of major changes and reforms within the agency. These are in response to fundamental challenges. On commencing my role, I agreed with the board that these were our priority and remain so. I am pleased to report significant progress in key areas of change in the organisation. At the end of this month, Tusla will have completed a major part of the reform of governance of the agency through the recruitment of a revised executive management team and six new defined regions, each with its own chief officer. Through empowering local regions, we will see an even greater focus on need, better integration and improved performance management with appropriate accountability.

The board and I recognise that many challenges and issues remain to be addressed. Be they in the context of history or current-day service provision, it is fair to say we have challenges. I have no doubt some of those will be reported and commented on in the future. Equally, there is substantial evidence to show we have made, and continue to make, progress on many fronts, with excellent work being done by some 5,000 staff every day. Consistency and continuous improvement are central for the coming years.

I thank the Chair and am happy to take questions from members.