Mr. Noel Kelly:

I will start with the question on the statutory educational welfare service. This service came into Tusla in 2014 when the National Educational Welfare Board ceased to exist. The service struggled during the time of the National Educational Welfare Board because of the recruitment embargo and when staff left, they were not replaced. When the service came into Tusla in January 2016, we had just over 60 educational welfare officers, EWOs. By the end of 2017, we will have 90 - an increase of 50% - which is not massive but which is significant. We have approximately 4,000 schools so members can do the maths themselves. We were working at an average of 70 schools per EWO. By the end of this year, however, it will be down to below 50 and our intention is to reduce it incrementally in the coming years. By the end of 2018, I would like it to be, at most, 40 per EWO.

We work across a large expanse of schools and we are not meeting needs early enough. We work through a referrals system but we are not able to get to referrals quickly enough. We have to give priority to students who do not have places in schools, who have been expelled from school or who have special needs that prevent them from accessing places in schools. I would like to get to children before the 20 days from when they are referred but, unfortunately, we do not have the capacity to do that. There are 120 education welfare officers in Northern Ireland and, using that figure as a comparison, we would need 300 to really run the service. I am pleased with the support within Tusla. We are getting the support and the extra staff to grow the team incrementally. We are gathering good data and are able to identify the areas in which new staff are needed. In north Dublin, for example, particularly the area around Balbriggan, we are allocating extra staff because the population there is growing and there are different needs and, as the Acting Chairman noted, different cultures.

The Acting Chairman also asked about apprenticeships. I attended school in the 1960s and 1970s. When one finished primary school, one was guided to the academic school or the vocational school. People made a choice at that stage and many of my friends went to vocational schools. They have done a lot better than I have because they learned trades and have set up their own businesses. We have to value different forms of education and there is too much emphasis on the academic element. It has been said that the Irish workforce is overly qualified and that people with third-level degrees are working in McDonalds or Tesco. This is not necessary so we have to value different approaches. The FETAC scheme has been a fantastic development in that young people can now get into third-level education through multiple routes. I refer, for example to plc courses, by means of which they work their way up to degree level. We have to have multiple points of entry but if a young person wants to make a choice, the alternatives - as is the case in many other countries - should be available.