Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not wish to highlight any particular case, but children are in very difficult circumstances. The fact that social workers are stretched and are unable to give each case the time and attention it needs can have appalling outcomes for the child, who has to be at the centre of all of this. Thankfully, of late I have not seen too many such cases. A few years ago, there seemed to be a lot of them. I wish to emphasis that from the committee's point of view, there is a budget there. Mr. Bernard Gloster said that Tusla needed an additional €100 million in funding. I believe Tusla received €61 million, so there is a bit of gap there. Perhaps that can be corrected. I am aware that there is an issue with the recruitment of staff, but retention is key. On the contracts young social workers are being offered, are they completing a one-year probationary period and then being offered a permanent job, or are they being offered a two- or three-year contract? What is happening there?