John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the contents of the Bill, which since it was first devised more than ten years ago has always been based clearly on the best interests of children. I commend the Government on finally publishing the Bill. That said, while this is not a direct criticism, it is deeply ironic that the Government would make such a commitment to averting harm to children while at the same time pursuing policies which have resulted in more than 220,000 children – almost one in five – living in poverty. It is also a time when we have one of the highest percentages in the EU of young people not in education, training or employment.

Funding for youth services has been dramatically cut by an average of 30% in the past five years. The Bill is not about youth work, however; it is about child protection, and in that context I have serious concerns about the lack of additional resources to support the professionals to develop good child protection policies and to raise awareness of the issue. More pressing, however, is the fact that front-line social services do not have the manpower at present to cope. If the State is going to compel professionals to report cases in which a child is being harmed or is at risk of harm, as they should, then we must ensure the resources are available to deal with every single referral promptly and efficiently. The current lack of resources is just as dangerous to children as the risk of a professional not reporting a particular case.

The success of the legislation will be measured according to its ability or failure to respond to reports of abuse before situations reach what one might call a crisis point. Success will also be based on the agency’s effectiveness in acting the moment a concern is reported to prevent ongoing significant harm or abuse from occurring. That is where my concern lies. Last July, I raised serious concerns in the House about social worker numbers during Leaders’ Questions. I was assured by the Tánaiste that the Government was addressing the issue. However, I understand that at present more than 170 social work posts with the Child and Family Agency are still vacant. I find that inexplicable. Perhaps the Minister would explain why that is still the case. I acknowledge that following the Ryan report the Government sanctioned a recruitment campaign for more than 200 new social workers. I welcomed that. However, the non-replacement of staff on maternity leave and retirement means there are fewer social workers employed than when the report issued six years ago. The situation must be examined and an explanation given for why that is the case. There are also major shortages of social care workers and family support workers. When one meets people in agencies dealing with child support, they are at pains to say that is the case. Staff shortages are completely undermining the State's statutory obligation to protect children and threatening to thwart the effectiveness of the legislation.

I have always acknowledged the compassion of the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, and how well she has performed as Minister. I have no hesitation in saying that. I say that to people who criticise the Government when they ask if there are Ministers doing a good job. There are people working well in the Government, and I have always acknowledged that the Minister is one of them.

Caseloads for existing social workers remain large and serious cases are not being assessed quickly enough. In Waterford, the social work service remains a Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. operation, which is simply shocking. I could go through particular cases but I will not do so as I would not have the time. However, I have spoken about them in Waterford and I have met social workers and families. Members of the Garda are not trained or qualified to handle such situations but they are expected to handle crisis situations at night and weekends. I know of gardaí who might take a child who has overdosed on alcohol or drugs to an accident and emergency unit and who will stay with them. If it is the weekend and they need follow-up care there is no one to call. Garda time and resources are taken up dealing with such cases and liaising with distraught parents. A system which fails to respond to cries for help out of hours, regardless of the well-intentioned legislation, will continue to put children's well-being and lives at risk.

A report by the Ombudsman for Children into front-line services between 2005 and 2010 cited one case in which it took four months to organise a home visit for a 16-year old girl, despite concerns that she was being subjected to "savage sexual abuse". The same report noted that many vulnerable youngsters were left without an allocated social worker, despite the urgency being flagged by up to 30 different State agencies. I know of the case to which the Ombudsman for Children referred. What happened was appalling. I acknowledge that the legislation would not have changed the awful circumstances involved, but it was not the issue of reporting that destroyed these young lives; it was the failure of the State to respond properly to the reports of abuse.

The State also failed by not providing for co-ordinated intervention in cases such as that.

However, I am informed that more than 80 cases of suspected child abuse or neglect are reported every day to social services and there is a current shortfall of more than 170 social workers in the new Child and Family Agency. Can the Government promise that these cases will not happen again? I understand and accept that everything cannot be perfect within the system and that people fall through every system, however caring, compassionate and legislatively-based it might be, and one cannot shout and blame the Government or the Minister all the time for that. However, she needs to re-examine staffing levels in the context of this crucial issue if 80 cases are being reported daily. I do not know whether all these cases are legitimate, but based on the number of people working in the social services, the staff must be overburdened. The complexity means that dealing with a case of alleged abuse of a child takes hundred of hours. The Minister and I both know this from speaking to social workers. They are overburdened and when the front-line service providers say they do not have sufficient trained staff, we need to examine that.

I do not know the position in other parts of the country, but it is difficult to contact a social worker after 5 p.m. on a Friday in my area. While drugs misuse and over-intoxication by youths can happen seven days a week, statistics highlight that such incidents are most likely to happen at weekends. This is when social workers need to be available to deal with the harrowing cases that can present.

It is difficult to see how the Government parties in conscience can bring forward this legislation without first taking three actions. They would not be costly but they are important. First, they need to publish the review they promised into social work caseloads, led by the HSE and including staff input. This review should have been prioritised on the establishment of the new Child and Family Agency. The Minister said she would do all in her power to make sure this was done. The review would be interesting not so much for the public but for the people working in the system in order that they could analyse how the system works. I often meet social workers who have a difficult job, particularly when dealing with children. They spend their time focused on the children or people they are engaged with at the time and they find it difficult then to analyse what is happening in their area or around the country. This review would help in this regard.

Second, will the Government sanction an immediate review of the current referral rate to social workers nationwide? I am informed by front-line workers that such data sit on their desks and, therefore, this should not be a lengthy process. This would be valuable for those working on the front line. It would allay unwarranted criticism of the Minister and her Department if all the documents and reports were put on the table. I accept it is difficult for a Minister to come in and solve everything within three years, and it would be unfair to criticise her on that basis. However, we need to go back over the past few years to analyse how cases were dealt with, what reports issued and whether recommendations were implemented. That would help the Department to deal with future cases.

Third, I refer again to statistics relating to weekends. It would be unfair to the legislation, which I support, the Minister and social workers if we cannot deal with the tragedies that happen every weekend. I am not sure how everything works in Dublin, Cork or elsewhere, but one cannot contact a social worker in Waterford at the weekend. Private social workers are now advertising. It is sad that a family in desperation would have to ring somebody for advice knowing they could get it from the HSE but staff are not available to offer that support.

The reports done by Departments before the Minister came into office should be published and analysed to ascertain whether they have been adopted and what has been taken from them. I spoke to a social worker who is in a prominent position within the Department last night. She said: "That is a fact, John. There are 60 to 80 cases a day coming into us. We are really overburdened. We are really under pressure here." She is a decent woman and a good person. She also poignantly said that what is harrowing for social workers is if they miss something. If it is their fault, that is bad enough, but if they miss something and they know a few additional hours or a little more information or an additional staff member here and there could have meant saving a child from mental or physical abuse or sexual abuse, that is difficult for them. When they go home, they worry about the effort they have made. It is difficult enough for Members in their advice centres when people present them with harrowing cases, but one can imagine the difficulties for a social worker.

I recall meeting a social worker who had just taken up the job. She was a good young girl and she had to deal with a harrowing case of an 11 year old girl who was being abused by her father. She found out in subsequent meetings that a four year old daughter was being abused as well. That was distressing for her. All this happened over a weekend, with the mother finding out about the abuse for the first time. The young daughter was deeply distressed and the only people the mother could go to were gardaí. She said they had nobody to ring and they had to go the accident and emergency department in Waterford Regional Hospital to talk to nurses, doctors and gardaí. However, nobody was available to comfort the child or the mother who had to deal with this harrowing case. I am sure there are many similar cases.

The Minister takes advice from anyone who gives it to her if it is reasonable. I support the Bill and I acknowledge where she is coming from with it but I ask her to take into consideration the issues I have raised regarding an analysis of reports and regarding service provision at weekends, which are a critical time for young children. It is a bad enough time for adults who might have overdosed but one can imagine the difficulty of dealing with a seven year old, 12 year old or 14 year old who may be part of a family that is under pressure psychologically and cannot give succour, help or mental support to the child when he or she most needs it.

I will support the Bill and I hope the Minister takes on board some of the points some of us have made.

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