Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)

The 262 people have been recruited, with the vast majority of them in place. A number of them are due to begin work in the next couple of weeks. I will provide the child and family social work numbers for Deputy Boyd Barrett. It is important to maintain numbers in the current climate, as the Deputy will appreciate. In 2010 there were 1,183 workers and in 2011 there were 1,220 - an increase of 37 on the previous year in child and family services. That does not take account of those in the batch of 60 who will start. I have given the following statistics before but total social worker numbers have gone from 2,189 in 2009 to 2,431 in 2010 to 2,441 in 2011.

The point was made as to whether social workers were moving from different areas but that decision must be made at a management level. I will give an example regarding adoption, where there is less demand and fewer people to be assessed. A number of social workers were involved in that process and some must move from that area to deal with highly pressurised areas, including child protection. There will have to be redeployment and flexibilities under the Croke Park agreement must be utilised in order to meet the challenges.

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