Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

There is a serious increase in the number of referrals to Tusla at this time. The joint committee had a meeting last week with the ISPCC and a number of NGOs involved in everything from very early intervention right through to youth diversion, the Greentown project and other initiatives like that. Many of those witnesses spoke about the referrals to them from Tusla. That makes me worry about Tusla's capacity. No matter how well the Minister or the agency itself says it is funded, we are aware there are issues in this regard. We have not got to grips with the interagency aspect and dealing with the complex cases that arise. I accept that we have additional complex cases other than those coming from abroad, and they must be dealt with, but we have very specific issues in terms of the numbers going through the roof. When Ms Kate Duggan, CEO of Tusla, comes before the committee, the most important conversation I have with her will be after the meeting in regard to a number of cases of which I am aware. I have seen a frightening number in the past fortnight. I am not entirely sure what the issue is other than that the complexity is increasing and the number of cases is increasing. What is proposed to be done to grade those cases?