Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

I appreciate that the Minister of State is new to the office, and I wish him well. My party will be fully supportive of any initiatives brought forward to deal with this issue, which I believe is in crisis. If we are to deal with this effectively, we need to recognise that there is a problem. The "Prime Time Investigates" programme was one of the most difficult I have had to watch. I found it very disturbing to listen to the accounts of the social workers. From viewing the programme, does the Minister of State accept that in one region social workers were not assigned to work with more than 70 children who had suffered abuse? Is that an accurate assessment of what was going on, or did the programme and the social worker interviewed misrepresent the truth?