Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)

I remind the Minister of comments she made while in opposition. On 4 November 2009 she stated in the Seanad:

It is, therefore, disturbing to read about the report from the HSE in The Irish Times today that the number of children in care who have a social worker has fallen by 7% this year. It makes a mockery of the recommendations made in the Ryan report if we do not have these services in place to deal with children in need of protection and care.

Since she came to office I have asked the Minister about the recruitment of social workers on a number of occasions. In November 2011 she said: "It is quite an achievement on the part of the HSE to have delivered 200 social workers, with 60 to be in place by the end of December and a further ten in January." On 17 November the Minister advised me that by end of 2011 an additional 60 social workers would be in place, all of which would be new and extra posts.

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