Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I note that we have been invited to the launch of Tusla's new child protection and welfare strategy on Monday week. I do not know if measures will be announced then. I believe they need to redouble their efforts. I do not know what methods they use to recruit social workers but I have made the point before that there are many people in the State who are qualified social workers but who do not work in social work. Some of these would be relatively mature people. There is a very big turnover of people, some very young, working in this very challenging area. I hope Tusla will look at other ways of recruiting.

There is an article in today's media about the report of the independent national review panel in respect of children who died while in State care or who were known to social services. The chair of the panel, Helen Buckley, said "Some of these reviews reveal the level of pressure being experienced by social work departments due to increased reporting and shortages of staff." Clearly it is a real concern and I know it is a concern also for the Minister, but we need to see a sense of urgency about ensuring we have enough social workers in the system. They are dealing with really vulnerable children. I ask that the Minister draws this question to the attention of Tusla.

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