Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for the information, but it does not address the question I asked about the steps being taken by the Minister to address the problems associated with the recruitment and retention of staff. Budget allocations and recruitment campaigns, etc., are very welcome but there is a fundamental problem within our social work services, as we find it very difficult to recruit and retain staff.

In the recent past, vast amounts of money have been spent in international recruitment, which is unsatisfactory, by and large. There are many very young social workers coming here from abroad and there may well be cultural differences in that regard. These people are on their world tour, more or less. We cannot really staff an importance service like social work on that basis. Does the Minister accept that there is a problem in the lack of support being provided to young graduate social workers coming into the service?

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