Ms Aine McGuirk:

I will deal with the issue of the social worker when he or she reaches court. When I came into social work, and I have been around for a long time now, I was just as young and inexperienced as any graduate walking out of college. In those days, we had time, because in 1978 we had not really heard of child abuse then. Over the next decades, those issues emerged. With social workers like me, we had time to develop with this new knowledge and practice. The young social worker today comes straight out of college into that world where he or she may find him or herself very quickly in a High Court dealing with a young person who has very high needs. He or she is in court as an applicant for Tusla.