Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. She told me last month that at that stage, Tusla had 499 agency staff and that 226 of those were social workers. What percentage of the total social worker staff are agency staff? It is welcome to hear that the turnover rate is beginning to fall. The Minister told me previously that the overall rate for Tusla was reducing to 5% or 6%, which is the normal rate one would expect in an organisation, but grave concern was expressed recently at the committee by the Irish Foster Care Association. Ms Bond, from that association, made the point that social workers have a caseload of approximately 30 children per worker, which seems an incredibly high number given that in the UK, the figure might be 17 or 18.

I also asked the Minister previously about the breakdown across the regions. Last year, there were 282 vacancies with 61 in Dublin south, 57 in Dublin west, 89 in Dublin north east, 70 in Dublin mid-Leinster, one in residential and four in national service. Those are very big deficits which remain.

The Minister made a fundamental point to me in a previous answer. She said there are only 200 to 250 social work graduates each year from our universities. Is it time, therefore, that we widened out the educational programme?

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