Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 27 March 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Recruitment and Retention of Social Workers: Discussion

Ms Aine McGuirk:

That is a very different role from being, for example, a guardian ad litem, a psychologist giving an expert opinion or anybody else. The social worker is the applicant and the parent is the respondent who will be aided by the State in that regard. The social worker has to stand there in a very alien world, dealing with judges, barristers and many legal teams.