Ms Kate Duggan:

I am really mindful of what I can say about both of those cases. I apologise if I did not talk about deaths and presumed deaths. It is because I am so wary of what An Garda Síochána is asking us not to say, particularly in a position like mine. We have been in contact with relatives attached to both of those cases and with the wider communities to make sure we are offering support. I want people to know that this has devastated our agency and the staff in Louth, as I know it has the communities in Louth. I want to put that on the record.

With regard to what we talk to, Louth is one of the busiest areas for Tusla. I do not have the specific details regarding Louth in front of me but I can certainly get them for the Deputy. In the whole of the country, it is probably the area with the third or fourth greatest increase and change in demand. We are concerned that Louth does not have a lot of community and voluntary sector supports. This year, we have some additional funding to try to build that. Across the country, there are family resource centres, Barnardos services or other community and voluntary services. Louth does not have the same level of investment in community and voluntary services for families.

Based on the demand in Louth, we know there are not enough social workers and social care workers. We are seeing an increase and now have these new supply routes. That has been our challenge for the past three years. We just were not seeing the number of social workers we needed qualifying from the universities to be able to appoint them to the areas where we see the most need. It is really important to stress that, with the apprenticeship scheme being led by my colleague Ms Mannion, we are able to recruit local people who meet the criteria for an apprenticeship and who we know are going to stay in the local area. We are not going to see the full impact of that until next year or the year after. It is certainly a game-changer in terms of being able to invest in social work services in Louth. However, there are many very good services for families in Louth. I have been out a number of times to meet services and partner agencies across Louth. Looking at the most recent HIQA report for Louth, it talked about the fact that we are using our resources where they are most needed. We are dealing with those cases that are most urgent and of the highest priority.

I will not have time to talk to the reform programme here today but we are changing. For example, Louth is now combined with Meath but, from 1 January, it will be its own area with its own manager and a new team. Services will now be about multidisciplinary screening. There will be much more support for services across caseloads. There will certainly be an impact. I am very happy to meet with the Deputy separately if she would like some more information on all of that.