Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)

The language the Minister used in her response was very unclear. I asked a straightforward question as to how many of the promised 60 social workers are now in place. The Minister referred to posts being "cleared" and plans being "at a very advanced stage". She said the budget is "in place" and that 53 of the posts have been "filled or accepted". I have been hearing for months that candidates have accepted the posts, but that was the end of it; they were not subsequently appointed to their roles. I am asking how many of these staff are in place, as of 15 December 2011.

My concern is that through the course of this year - the figures speak for themselves in this regard - we have, in fact, gone backwards in terms of social worker numbers. The most recent figures from the Department show that at the end of September, there were four fewer social workers in place in the system than was the case at the beginning of the year. Moreover, the decision by the HSE not to cover maternity leave or replace temporary posts means there are even fewer workers in the system.

The impact of that is easily foreseen. Last week in the Central Criminal Court we saw a father sentenced to life imprisonment for abusing several of his children. That abuse continued in the last decade even though the health authorities first became aware of the family in 2000. The response of the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, and the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, to that case was to focus on the introduction of mandatory reporting. This ignores the reality that the key problem in this particular case was that the health authorities had failed to intervene at an earlier stage, which allowed the abuse to continue. That comes back to the requirement for more social workers. The unfortunate reality, however, is that, as of today, there has instead been a reversal in this regard.

See this speech in context