Mr. Bernard Gloster:

I thank the Deputy. That is very clear, and I do not disagree with his observation one bit about the Welsh approach. My earlier comments would not be to say that I think any care leaver should be without support. I was simply talking about the quantum of the allowance in somebody's life at a time where there may be chaos. It has had a destructive effect as well as a helpful effect. However, in the main, I share the Deputy’s view. To put it clearly on the record, I do think 23 and 24 are too young to stop support, considering that young people who have come through the care system have not even come through all of what might considered to be the normal range of supports and attachments in life, and therefore it is well beyond that. I take most of my reference points from meeting with care leavers such as Empowering People in Care, EPIC, the Irish Aftercare Network and others and I listen carefully to what they say. Ultimately, they will be the experts who will shape the policy I have spoken about that we will be rewriting between now and Christmas. To be fair to the Minister, he has been very open to and welcoming of that. He genuinely has.

There is a direct correlation between workforce planning and improved performance. We now have a robust people strategy. However, as to the Deputy’s question whether we are producing enough social workers, the answer is, “No, we are not”. Why not? There has been a traditional base of the development of programmes in the universities. I recently met with the Secretary General of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. The chair of Tusla has also met with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. The Secretary General of the Department has moved on certain matters to try to progress them. I am open to a wide range of options that will develop social work capacity and supply into the future right across our personal social services, and not just Tusla. We have to be open to things like apprenticeship models, sponsorship models and others.

If we simply continue to produce the number we are producing then myself and my many successors, and the successors of Deputy Costello, will be speaking about the shortage of social workers in Ireland. We have to change the supply pattern. We also need to change the methodology so we have multidisciplinary teams led by social workers in response to children. We must resource social workers with other key resources that can help them with different approaches to caseloads and case types. This year we are employing 20 speech and language and occupational therapists to work exclusively with children in care teams. This will make a difference to what social workers can do for children. It will make a difference to their case management.

On the foster care plan I will ask Ms Duggan to speak on what she is prioritising for 2023. I have heard foster carers categorically and loudly and clearly in recent weeks on some of their dissatisfaction. We have heard this and she has spoken to several hundred of them. There are improvements we can make immediately. Perhaps she will give a sense of what we have prioritised coming into 2023.