Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her comprehensive answer and welcome everything she said. One of the reasons I tabled my question was to get the answer the Minister has given, namely, that supports are available for social care workers and all those involved with Tusla. The other reason relates to the children who lose a social care worker or when a social care worker, having accessed the supports, no longer wants to continue working because the demand is so great. I asked one of two representatives who appeared before the committee recently the number of social care cases they would expect to have. They could not answer us; they could not say whether they should have 35, 55 or 65 cases for the simple reason that every case is significant and must be examined on a case by case basis. The Minister has said a 15% turnaround rate in this respect is comparable with that in other countries, but when we take workers out of the system, we let down children. We are taking away key supports, about which I have a serious concern in terms of meeting future needs, and it is coming across in HIQA reports. Good staff are walking away from the job because we do not offer key supports to retain them such as a good ICT communications system. Retention is crucial in an industry in which only 230 qualify annually.

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