John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 9: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of the 60 additional social workers to be employed in 2011 under the Ryan Report Implementation Plan that have been employed to date; if all 60 will be in place by the end of 2011; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40321/11]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am very pleased to be able to tell the House that as provided for in the HSE's 2011 service plan, the recruitment of additional social workers is at a very advanced stage. The 60 posts have been cleared completely. The budget is in place and the latest information available from the HSE indicates that 53 additional posts have been filled or accepted. A further five posts are being offered to candidates this week and the rest will be filled very shortly afterwards. As the Deputy will see from the figures I have provided, this is a high priority.

I informed the House on previous occasions that the 60 additional social workers requested under the Ryan report implementation plan would be in place by the end of the year. I am now confirming that they will have been recruited by the HSE within that timeframe, which is very welcome. These additional workers will be targeted at priority areas of the service, having regard to the overall assessment of workload which is being undertaken by the national director of children and family services at the HSE, Gordon Jeyes, and his team. The recruitment of the additional social workers is one element of a broader change agenda within the executive which will enable us to deliver better outcomes for children and families. This reform agenda will involve the establishment of a new child and family support agency which will provide a dedicated focus on child protection, something we did not have in the past when child protection was part of the broader HSE remit.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The language the Minister used in her response was very unclear. I asked a straightforward question as to how many of the promised 60 social workers are now in place. The Minister referred to posts being "cleared" and plans being "at a very advanced stage". She said the budget is "in place" and that 53 of the posts have been "filled or accepted". I have been hearing for months that candidates have accepted the posts, but that was the end of it; they were not subsequently appointed to their roles. I am asking how many of these staff are in place, as of 15 December 2011.

My concern is that through the course of this year - the figures speak for themselves in this regard - we have, in fact, gone backwards in terms of social worker numbers. The most recent figures from the Department show that at the end of September, there were four fewer social workers in place in the system than was the case at the beginning of the year. Moreover, the decision by the HSE not to cover maternity leave or replace temporary posts means there are even fewer workers in the system.

The impact of that is easily foreseen. Last week in the Central Criminal Court we saw a father sentenced to life imprisonment for abusing several of his children. That abuse continued in the last decade even though the health authorities first became aware of the family in 2000. The response of the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, and the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, to that case was to focus on the introduction of mandatory reporting. This ignores the reality that the key problem in this particular case was that the health authorities had failed to intervene at an earlier stage, which allowed the abuse to continue. That comes back to the requirement for more social workers. The unfortunate reality, however, is that, as of today, there has instead been a reversal in this regard.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy has asked on several occasions about the 60 social workers and my responses have not been in any way unclear. As I said, the budget is in place and I have indicated the numbers who have been recruited. The 60 social workers will be commencing work and some have already started.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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How many?

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Some 53 of the 60 additional posts for 2011 requested under the Ryan report implementation plan have been filled or accepted, with the remainder being offered.

The Deputy is incorrect in his claim that there has been a decrease in the number of social workers working with children and families. On the contrary, there has already been an increase of 24 this year within that area, and now we will have the additional 60. That amounts to 84 additional posts in the child and family protection area. The Deputy should recognise that the 60 social workers will be in place. The money is there and the posts have not been affected by the recruitment embargo. Those 60 social workers will be working in the HSE in the course of 2012. That is the situation and there is nothing unclear about it. I have made absolutely clear that the funding has been made available for those 60 posts and that they will be in place. Moreover, an additional 24 are already working in the system.

As the Deputy knows, to maintain numbers within the public sector generally in the current economic circumstances is extremely difficult. As such, these additional posts represent important progress. The staff in question have a very challenging workload to undertake. The Deputy should acknowledge that the 60 social workers will be in place.