Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for her reply. I think she will agree that in light of the publication of the report of the child death review group in the past couple of weeks, the job of ensuring we provide the best possible protection to children who come into the care of the State is essential for the Government and one it must not shy away from. It must take the hard actions to achieve that. The report of the child death review group showed that many children were failed by the State and that, in many cases, the reason for that failure was the lack of resources and the pressure on our social workers to achieve goals and provide the care children required of them.

When the Minister came into office in February 2011, some 94.6% of children in State care had an assigned social worker. Having an assigned social worker is essential to ensure the child has a point of contact and someone from the State to look after him or her and to ensure he or she gets the service he or she requires. A year and a half later, the percentage has dropped to 92%. The Minister said the increase in the number of children in care has added to that. What has also added to that is the fact the Minister did not achieve her target of hiring an additional 60 social workers in 2011. In fact, the number hired was 14.

The exemption from the recruitment embargo, which existed when the Minister came into office, is no longer in place. Will she put that exemption from the embargo back in place and outline her plan of action to ensure each child in the care of the State has an assigned social worker?

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