Ms Iris Mockler:

Ms Ryan spoke to what I was going to say. The examples I was going to give are anecdotal. I wish to make a point about the negative impact the changeover in staff can have on parents and children. With the changeover, they need to retell their story. The Senator mentioned trauma and the duty of care. It can be retraumatising for someone to have to continually repeat their story. They may feel they need to prove themselves all over again. They are definitely trying to rebuild relationships and make that connection with the social worker. It is additional work for everybody involved and unfortunately it can also retraumatise people. My colleague, Eleanor Comber, and I were recently invited to speak to social work master's students in the University of Galway. That was a really diverse group which was fantastic to see. I hope that things are changing slowly and with them the system will change itself by the nature of the people employed within it.