Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has asked some excellent questions. In announcing the resources I shared a platform with Mr. McBride and we had a lot of discussions in that regard. He has identified that there are 305 people at various stages of recruitment; that Tusla is in the process of recruiting and ultimately employing the people concerned. In that context, there has been a lot of positive action in the context of Tusla's overall three-year plan to get the numbers it needs. It has been proactive and working extremely hard to recruit the necessary mix of team members and professionals. Of the aforementioned 305 people, 185 are social workers. A lot of work has been done to achieve that number of new recruits. In addition, the resources I am putting in place will ensure Tusla will be able to continue that recruitment to add an additional 300 workers.

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