James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I reject the assertion that Tusla is in any financial crisis. It is a new agency and received a substantially increased budget this year. As it develops, we will undoubtedly see where there is a need for further resources. It is undertaking work to measure this and to determine where best to put those resources.

Regarding high-priority cases, these are not children at immediate risk. Any child at immediate risk is treated as an emergency and seen immediately. To put this in perspective, if a teacher in a classroom this morning is worried about a child in that class, there will be a social worker there before the child goes home this evening. That is the nature of the service that Tusla delivers. High-priority cases include a range of situations, some of which relate to children who are in care and stable environments but have not been allocated social workers. We would prefer it if they had social workers, but they are not in any immediate risk or danger. We want to minimise risk and would like to see no child at risk where possible.

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