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

The action plan involved establishing an oversight team in Tusla; commissioning a review of the backlog of referrals using Tusla staff from another area; reducing the backlog through the use of agency staff and the reassignment of staff from another area; using independent child care expertise to support the assessment and address the backlog; and communicating the current position to the Health Information and Quality Authority and Department. A subsequent action plan elaborated on these steps and identified further steps to establish the root causes of the issue and lessons to be learned.

Key actions identified included liaison with the Garda Síochána regarding notifications on retrospective abuse cases; risk assessment and prioritisation of the backlog by an external child care expert; planned allocation of all outstanding cases; diversion of referrals, where appropriate, to local area pathways and the meitheal model; recruitment of ten additional social workers; assessment of ICT systems and addressing the related risks; training and management of supervisory skills; and, management review of Tusla risk-management arrangements.

Therefore, a lot of work has been done and is ongoing. Those at immediate risk are being addressed as we speak.

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