Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I agree and share, as I am sure all Deputies do, his concern regarding the rhetoric we have seen in recent weeks and months. It comes from a small group in society but one that is vocal and uses online techniques to organise and perhaps amplify its voice more than may be representative. It is, however, a voice that is also dangerous and makes threats to elected representatives, as the Deputy knows well, at this stage.

My Department's response to the broad issue of anti-racism will be spearheaded through the national action plan against racism. This will be launched in March of this year. It is a piece of work that has been under way and developed by the anti-racism committee that has been working on this for the past two years and that held a comprehensive national consultation. There will be a number of immediate acts and more will take place over the subsequent four years. I will chair a committee that will monitor implementation across the Government. There will be a funding package behind the plan. Of the €6.8 million allocated under subhead D4, €1.7 million will be explicitly behind the national action plan against racism. There will be a funding call looking to support initiatives. We will probably do what we have done with other funds. We will allocate larger amounts of money for national or regional activities but we will also consider small amounts for very localised initiatives. A second fund provided for under D4 is the migrant integration fund of approximately €2.36 million. Again, that supports a number of migrant integration initiatives at present at both a high and low level. It is very important that, for example, €1,000 is allocated to hold a picnic with children in the local international protection accommodation. It is just once-off funding but is very valuable in creating those immediate links.

I am very conscious of the wider work my Department is doing in the sphere of international protection right now and the importance of building in stronger community local links. I am working with the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, at present to bring forward a small fund that might enable us to immediately support groups such as Drimnagh For All in what they are doing. We hold annual funding calls but if international protection is setting up in two weeks' time, my saying we will have a call-out in nine months' time or next year is no immediate good to anybody. We want something that will act as a bridge to work in the short term. We are also looking at how we can better mobilise communities and better engage with community support. We have Ukraine forums throughout the country, which are valuable and have worked very well in many local authorities. There are wider issues, including the legislation on hate crimes before the Houses at present, in addition to the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act, although that probably falls outside our area. It is important to note this legislation, however, because, as the Deputy said, there needs to be an all-of-government approach.

We discussed Tusla recruitment and retention the very first time I appeared before the committee. Recruitment and retention of social workers remains a very big challenge for Tusla. We are seeing this year that its overall numbers are holding still. We need to grow the numbers because we are aware, as are Deputies, that the number of unallocated cases still remains too high. There is a real focus in Tusla right now on addressing that but the number of unallocated cases still remains too high. Getting more social workers into the organisation is key as is, as the Deputy noted, retaining the ones who are there at present. Staff turnover increased in 2022. There is a turnover of approximately 16%, which is a figure we are looking to bring down.

In July 2022, I launched Tusla's people strategy, which is designed to bring new people into the organisation and, in particular, to retain the good staff they have. A whole range of initiatives have been rolled out by Tusla in the past year aimed at supporting and retaining staff. I attended an event in Farmleigh House to recognise excellence across the various parts of the organisation, which was really good. It showed the many innovative things the organisation is supporting at a local level.

The campaign targeting new graduates has been rolled out in the past two years to try to enhance the number of social workers in the organisation. It offers new graduates an immediate role in the organisation. It is a good campaign but it needs to be supplemented with other measures. A number of other things have happened. The position of social worker has been put on the critical skills list so that social workers can be recruited from overseas. That is an important step to allow social workers from other countries to seek to join us here. There is a strong focus on that issue in the organisation but no one underestimates the challenges, and the fact we have stood still this year in overall numbers shows the scale of that challenge.