Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

It is the reality on the ground. As I explained to the Senator, the HSE is vilified all the time, especially in the Houses of the Oireachtas. I am a strong advocate for our social workers because they make major decisions in child welfare and protection about whether a child stays within his or her family or is put into foster care or some other type of protection of the State. These are major decisions. We had a discussion about this in the Dáil yesterday. Social workers do these jobs extremely well and under pressure. We have a problem with the retention of staff within the public child protection service provision. Many social workers prefer to migrate into private service provision. They prefer to work in hospitals where there are simple structures in place and a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday. Working in this field with families with multiple problems and with children at risk is among the most difficult and challenging work social workers can do. The problem is that the same social workers are being called on to do the assessments. The problem is due to an issue of resources and an issue of time. I do not accept that the HSE is overstaffed. The improvements in numbers over the years are on foot of demands in this and the other House for the delivery of better services, more front-line people and the provision of various therapies and they have been provided.

We had a similar discussion in the Dáil yesterday and in 2008, therefore, this is a type of party political broadcast. The HSE is given credit for the improvement in our health indicators. From 2006 to 2008 we had the fastest improving health indicators in Europe. Credit is given to the HSE for that much needed reform of our health provision.

The simple answer to the Senator's question is that there is a problem of resources. That is why we are in engaged in discussion to ascertain if we can do what I mentioned, but we do not want to create a two-tier problem. I take this issue seriously.