Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I will continue in the same vein with regard to the escalation, where if the schools have an issue that they wish to raise they will not be shut down straight away. They must feel that the door is open. They are minding children for seven hours per day and they know the foster parents who are coming to the school. If they want to lend support or to be engaged, they do not need teachers getting a telephone call in return telling them that they could lose their job for referring something to a politician. That is not what we need to hear. We are talking about people who are looking for help and who feel they are doing a very good job.

According to a reply to a parliamentary question I tabled last March, there are currently 5,200 children in need of a social worker, social care worker or a level of intervention. Of those, 20% are priority cases. How many staff have to be recruited? I am aware there will be a shortfall, so what is the plan for engaging with advocacy groups to get through it as quickly as possible? Finally, there is a fear factor for people who want to become part of the team. That fear factor is that the tools are not in place. In mentioning tools, which are totally outside of the witnesses' control, I refer to the computer database system and how there can be reference from county to county. I have raised this numerous times with the Department. Does the fact that social care workers do not have the tools to do their job feed into the fear factor of them not being able to document correctly?