Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

It is difficult to get my head around the answer the Minister has given. If I understand her correctly, at the beginning of last year, there were 2,342 social workers and at the end of 2011 there were ten more. That is a net increase of ten but 71 will retire at the end of February, representing a reduction in the number of social workers. I am unsure whether the 60 that have been recruited and to which the Minister referred are in addition to the final 2010 figure.

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