Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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23. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to outline the progress made by Tusla in allocating social workers to the 4,892 cases as of December 2017 in which no social worker had been allocated; if she is satisfied with the progress being made in hiring additional social workers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19019/18]

Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs outline the progress being made by Tusla in allocating social workers to 4,892 cases where a social worker has not been allocated? Is she satisfied with the progress being made in hiring additional staff? Will the Minister make a statement on the matter?

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy for her important questions. I will address the issue of unallocated cases first. Then I will deal with the recruitment of social workers.

In February Tusla had 4,756 cases waiting for the allocation of a social worker. This has fallen from the 4,892 cases in December 2017, as referred to by the Deputy. This is consistent with the general downward trend in unallocated cases and represents a marked improvement on the 10,000 cases that were unallocated when Tusla was established in 2014. We have more work to do in this regard. I assure the Deputy that reducing the number of unallocated cases is a key priority for me and for Tusla. I support Tusla's efforts in this regard but I am not satisfied with the progress.

Tusla provides monthly performance and activity figures to my Department, including the numbers of new referrals and cases allocated and unallocated. There is an increasing number of referrals being made to child welfare and protection services year on year, so the decrease in unallocated cases has to be measured against this increasing demand for Tusla services. I have been assured that all urgent and emergency cases notified to Tusla are dealt with immediately.

We know the solution to this problem. Addressing the shortage of social workers will reduce the number of unallocated cases. Tusla is in its third year of a three-year plan to recruit social workers. The additional €40 million that I secured for Tusla in 2018 will help to support that plan. Despite Tusla's vigorous recruitment efforts, however, the rate of progress in increasing the overall number of social workers is disappointing.

I can inform the Deputy that of the 266 posts recently filled by Tusla, 157 are social work positions. Tusla expects these candidates to start work in the second quarter of this year. It must be understood, however, that the majority of these new staff will be replacing staff who have been promoted, retired or who have left the service. This indicates some of the challenges facing Tusla.

Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for her response, but I imagine she would agree with me that the fact almost 4,700 children are waiting on the allocation of a social worker is unacceptable.

I recognise that the Minister secured extra funding in the budget to deal with staff shortages but I do not believe funding is the issue. We had an €11 million underspend in Tusla when it came to staff and costs. This is purely down to the fact that Tusla cannot hire or retain these important staff. Will the Minister outline what sort of discussions she has had with Tusla on this issue and whether a new approach is needed by Tusla to retain and hire additional social workers?

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I agree with Deputy Mitchell in respect of the question she has posed. I posed the same question to my officials in preparing the answer to the question of whether anything more can be done. I would take issue with one point. Tusla has engaged in a substantial recruitment and retention programme. In that context, although we are losing some we are gaining others. Our retention rate is higher than in other countries. I take issue with what the Deputy said in that regard.

The Deputy asked whether anything else is going on and this is the case. We are in discussions with Tusla on the development of a strategy for a workforce plan. We believe several issues need to be identified to assist in the further recruitment and retention processes. I expect to receive a fuller version of that plan within the coming months.

Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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I acknowledge the steps being taken to deal with this issue but I find it alarming that we had 346 children deemed high priority who have been waiting more than three months. Worse again, Tusla could not tell us how long 87 children were waiting for social workers.

I am not coming here to bash Tusla. I am well aware of the vast workload faced by its staff but I seriously believe something needs to be done to retain the staff. Is it the case that we have to look at the pay and conditions of these social workers? Why does the Minister think no one is applying for these jobs? Why is Tusla not recruiting more staff? Why is this recruitment programme not working?

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I believe it is working up to a certain point. Clearly, we are not receiving the number of social workers that we require. I have tried to indicate that the number leaving represents a retention issue. We are doing pretty well in that regard by comparison with other jurisdictions but we need to recruit more. Tusla is engaged on the matter.

With my encouragement and the support of my officials, Tusla is also engaged in the development of a new strategic plan not only to take a look at how many social workers are needed but how to add an appropriate mix of social care workers and administrative workers as well. The idea is to take some of the work social workers are doing that may not need the experience of a social worker and reassign it to ensure they have more time to do what they need to do.

Deputy Mitchell raised a second set of questions. I am assured that even though there may be cases involving a child or family which are unallocated, this does not mean a social worker or social work team is not responsible for ensuring they are checked in on until an allocated social worker is assigned specifically to the family in question. On the question of whether any of those children are not at risk, I am absolutely assured.