Ms Linda Creamer:

In 2018, we had 56,000 referrals. They come from mandated persons, members of the public and people working with children. They come in through the front door, which is our duty service. When they come in at that point, they are screened in terms of meeting the threshold for harm or significant cause for concern. If a referral does not involve child protection and family support is needed, it would go through another part of our services. All the referrals are screened at the front door. We then contact the family and get the details of the allegation. We might visit the family or ask it to come in. If there is anything involving sexual abuse or high-level harm, An Garda Síochána will be notified as well. An intake record would be written up. This would provide all the details. Anybody involved with the family would get involved in that assessment. If it meets the threshold, we would move to carry out an initial assessment, if required. A case could be closed very quickly. If a child says something in school, for example, that something happened to him or her the night before, it would get an immediate response. Alternatively, we could get a call from a member of the public saying that he or she saw something happening such as children being hit and that will get an immediate response. They are all screened and prioritised. We have immediate responses where duty workers would go out and then we also have cases where we would gather more information and make a decision within five days as to whether to do a more comprehensive assessment.