Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in this morning. It is wonderful to have an opportunity to learn about the work of Tusla. I was a professional youth worker for about 20 years and worked in communities as Tusla emerged. I commend the work of the staff on the ground right up to senior management on the missions in transforming the idea or reputation of the service. That is true and it has happened in many of the communities I worked in. I commend everybody involved. Notwithstanding that, I and the families I have worked with have concerns that go beyond the individual or one-off towards a structural incompetence. That is based on the context in which Tusla has to work, which is in a society in Ireland that continues to fail a significant portion of children and young people. Some 100,000 children are experiencing consistent poverty and there is record child and youth homelessness. I acknowledge that the workers in Tusla are having to firefight all the time. It made me scratch my head yesterday when I saw the media reporting that the chair of Tusla's board said Tusla has never been better equipped to do its job. If I was a member of Cabinet, Tusla would suddenly become not a priority for me in funding. There is a €60 million deficit, yet the chair of the board said Tusla is equipped to do its job. Is there something wrong there?