Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for her response to the question. It greatly concerns me that I have not been able to get a clear response on the exact number of additional social workers that have been appointed so far this year. We have been given generalities but there is no specific figure in terms of progress on the appointment of an additional 60 by the end of this year on which a commitment was given. That concerns me in terms of where we are with resources.

I fully embrace the approach of putting the Children First guidelines on a statutory basis. The objective behind it is to ensure that we provide the best possible services to protect children. However, in a couple of the Minister's replies today-----

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