Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her reply. If the moratorium does not apply to social work posts, why are there so many vacancies and why are vacancies created by maternity leave not being filled? The reason is probably that local health managers are deciding not to recruit in order to keep budgets down. I am aware that physiotherapists are also exempt from the moratorium but local management in County Donegal have decided not to recruit for these positions in order to keep costs down. It is a serious matter given that more than 4,000 children are waiting three months or more for their cases to be dealt with and for social workers to be assigned. The Irish Association of Social Workers suggests that 2,900 social workers are required to deal with current caseloads. It is vital that these positions are recruited because although the service is prioritising cases and arguing that the children who are waiting longer are not high risk, these are the very children who might benefit from early intervention. We run the danger of children being kept in dangerous situations because they are deemed not to be a priority even though early intervention could save them from harm.

See this speech in context