Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is extremely important to tackle the waste through exorbitant legal fees. I do not accept the Minister will try his best to ascertain the figures involved. They should be readily available and we should know what is being spent by the Department in any given year in any particular area on legal fees. I got them before and I hope the Minister’s office will make them available again. I also hope they will show a downward trajectory and that the issue is being tackled. It is not right or proper to see that level of funding being spent at any time but particularly at a time when our budgets are under so much pressure and when the numbers of children in care have increased from 5,247 in 2005 to 6,460 in 2013. This is also a time when there has been a 91% increase in reported child protection issues while the number of social workers remains static. The workload has doubled for the same workforce but this cannot continue.

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