Nessa Cosgrove (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will return to the issue of staffing. I have many friends who work in the areas of child protection or social care. I am talking about people who are either directly employed by Tusla as social workers, social carers or family support workers as well as those who provide the commissioned services. Staff are dealing with a lot of trauma. Every day they are working with people and families who have a lot of complex needs. In Ireland we have the weakest workers' rights regime in western Europe. I am speaking from a broad perspective. As an agency of the State, when Tusla is commissioning and contracting services like occupational therapy or residential care, can it ensure that those getting those contracts protect workers' rights? Can it ensure that staff have a right to collectively bargain, for example?

I also think that a lack of therapeutic support for staff is a huge gap within commissioned services. A lot of managers in services would have worked on the ground themselves. There was a progression route and they became managers but there is a lack of therapeutic support for front-line staff. This is an issue that should be examined. I know from working in the area that staff are working with people who are dealing with a lot of trauma and that rubs off. It does have an impact. Is there any way that can be budgeted for in the context of commissioned services and directly employed staff? I believe the provision of therapeutic support should nearly be mandatory for front-line workers.