Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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6. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the status of the shortage of social workers to assist children at risk; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3214/16]

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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The question deals with the status of the shortage of social workers to assist children at risk. I raise this because there are many children in the broader society who are at risk. Many of these children are the potential criminals of the future and many will get involved with drugs and end up in Mountjoy. What plans does the Minister have to deal with these children at risk?

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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At the end of December 2015, there were 1,402 whole-time equivalent social workers employed by Tusla. Tusla has been working in recent months to recruit some 239 more social workers to fill existing vacancies, and a number of these have now commenced employment. As the recruitment of social workers progresses, Tusla engages agency social workers to address staff shortages. At the end of December 2015, Tusla had 185 such temporary staff engaged to assist child protection and welfare teams.

I instructed Tusla to carry out an audit of unallocated cases and, following submission of its proposals, I asked that it would put forward a business case as to how the address the problem. It did that, and I was very pleased to be able to secure it the money it needs, namely, a sum of €6.1 million for 2016 to specifically address risk associated with these cases. Tusla intends to recruit 201 staff in 2016 in this regard, 168 of whom relate to social work staffing. The remaining staff will be recruited to provide important business support functions, such as clerical and ICT supports. In other words, we want social workers dealing with clients, not having to hand-write reports on jotters, with no clerical or ICT support.

It should be noted that all cases brought to the attention of child protection and welfare teams are either allocated to a social worker or reviewed regularly by a senior social worker and any issue requiring an urgent response is acted upon immediately. Furthermore, other staff within the agency, including family support workers and social care workers, are in constant contact with children known to its services while they are awaiting allocation to a professional social worker.

Tusla's data indicate that at the end of October 2015, 6,411 cases were awaiting allocation, and of these, 1,351 cases were categorised as high priority. It is important to note that a high priority designation does not equate to a child being at high risk of harm, as reported in the media, and each case referred to a duty social work team is screened, regularly reviewed and re-prioritised as necessary.

The additional funding of €6.1 million which I made available to Tusla in 2016 will make a vital contribution to the filling of social worker vacancies and helping to address serious concerns regarding unallocated cases.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Of course we need good quality front-line social workers. A point often missed in this debate is the calibre of social workers. It is not always a question of university degrees. Many quality people who work in the community would make excellent social workers but they do not necessarily have to have high points or university degrees. Recently I have met some mature students who have gone back to Trinity College Dublin to do social care and get involved in social work. These are the kind of people we need to deal with children at risk and those who are outside the system. Personality is a key part of the social care services.

There is a worrying trend at the moment of self-harm among boys. According to the 2013 annual report of the National Registry of Deliberate Self-Harm, hundreds of children between the ages of ten and 14 years required hospital treatment for self-inflicted injuries.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I pay tribute to the quality and commitment of our social workers. The attrition rate among social workers here is much lower than in many other jurisdictions, which is testament to their commitment to their clients and their durability. When I visited Empowering People in Care, EPIC, one of the things those children highlighted was the lack of uniformity and consistency. There is nobody better than the children to highlight the deficiencies in the service. It is really difficult for them to lose a social worker and have to develop a relationship with a new social worker. We do our best to ensure that is kept to a minimum.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Flow and stability are key to the relationship with a family or young person at risk. Social workers tell me they are snowed under. They cannot talk to their clients and the clients cannot get to them. There is all sorts of confusion and we end up in a worse situation. When we talk about planning social services and these issues, we need a lot of common sense. There is no point in someone having high points or a degree from Trinity College Dublin if he or she cannot talk to or deal with a family from a very dysfunctional working class or poor background in a crisis. There are many quality people in communities. The educational system should provide some way for them to get into the social care services because some are doing it voluntarily and are delivering.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I would not disagree with anything the Deputy has said. This problem has been with us for decades and only a few years ago the Health Service Executive, HSE, and the then Minister were not even able to tell us how many children were dying in care. We have moved a long way towards transparency. The audit I asked Tusla to do was particularly important because it gave us an accurate picture of the scale of the problem and the challenge. It has come up with a three-year plan to address it and we have given it the money for the first year to do that. I have no doubt that successive Governments or Ministers will continue that because we need to address this problem. It will be a challenge for Tusla, which faces a recruitment challenge. I encourage people who have an interest in this area to go back to college and study to be social workers because there is a huge demand for them and we have made resources available to employ them.