Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I was a primary school teacher up until February so I have quite a detailed knowledge of the workings of Tusla. There is a lot of frustration among those who are mandated to refer complaints due to a lack of consistency, which is something Mr. Gloster mentioned in his opening statement. They feel that there is a lack of consistency, particularly regarding thresholds. As to when complaints come in, depending on who one deals with on a particular day, he or she either follows through and comes back very rapidly.

Increasingly, a lot of schools have found that Tusla is bouncing back on principals and designated liaison persons with the child ultimately losing out. In the words of one designated liaison person in a school, "there is a cover your ass culture in Tusla.". They take a complaint, one will hear something back but, invariably and increasingly, it falls back on the school staff who have training but training that does not equal what Tusla personnel have in terms of competency. I have heard about that failing from the grassroots up in terms of education and those who are mandatory reporters. I hope that the witnesses can address this matter, particularly the consistency of thresholds. Is there consistency within counties, regions and public health regions? Does Tusla look at cases where it has come up short and train people inhouse in its support centres?