Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I hope this is the start of a journey to find out precisely what are the figures as it is a cause of great concern for me. I welcome the figures provided by the Minister, indicating there were 413 children subject to a supervision order as of 31 December 2014. That is the first time I have got a figure and I thank the Minister for that. However, to understand the figure it must be placed in context. How many care orders were in existence at that point?

I have had the privilege of working both in law and psychology and I can only give my experience plus what people tell me. It seems that care orders are applied for much more regularly than supervision orders, as supervision orders have implications for resources. We know that in each area, city and county that there is a lack of social workers. The easier option - I use the phrase with the greatest respect - is to apply for a care order and take the child rather than putting in a supervision order with the necessary resources. That is particularly relevant in light of the recent high profile case when a seven year old child who spent half his life with his grandparents was taken. I am not going into the detail of the case but simply indicating the child was taken. It is the same experience with children taken into care when a supervision order might be much more appropriate. I am trying to establish the frequency of one compared with the other and if the lack of resources is leading to an abundance of care orders instead of supervision orders.

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