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

I remind the Deputy that many Departments have had Supplementary Estimates over the years; they are not new. What is different about this year is that we have been able to predict much earlier what that supplementary budget would be and therefore accommodated it in a much more transparent way than in other years where it came in at the last minute before Christmas. Allegations of three-card tricks do not stand up.

On the broader issue, Tusla has a three-year plan. We have met the requirement as outlined by it for 2016. It also has to gear up which is quite a challenge for it. It will need to employ a significant number of additional social workers. It is well advanced in doing that, as I said in response to an earlier question. More than 100 have been recruited with the recruitment of approximately another 100 in process. We have arranged the funding for this year's recruitment going from 218 social workers to 256 or 254 and there is funding for another 174 next year. It will need to recruit many people over the next year. While that will be a challenge, I believe it is one it will be able to meet in order to address this issue, which has been with us for a long time.

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