Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators. All of those reflections, questions and comments were extremely helpful. This is obviously the first opportunity I have had to have a conversation with my parliamentary colleagues since we implemented the mandatory reporting deadline, so it is really great. The Senators are the first in this regard. I will just offer a couple of general comments and answer a couple of questions in light of what the Senators have shared.

In light of the Senators' commentary, much of which has been appreciative of the fact that we now have mandatory reporting and that it happens within the overall suite and set of practices of protecting children, I would like to begin by acknowledging those positive comments and expressing my appreciation to Tusla and the people who work for it on the ground who are at the front line, the coalface, in dealing with these issues on a day-to-day basis with our children and our families. The Senators know from my commentary that the organisation, although it had obviously been preparing for a long period of time, wanted a little more time. I refused and said that we needed to do it now. I appreciate its willingness, once I said that, to rise to the occasion and to be as ready as it could to do the work.

I am particularly grateful to all the various child protection workers; the various non-governmental organisations, including those mentioned by Senator Noone; all those who have lobbied to bring us to this point; and all of the Government Departments. I have met with the interdepartmental implementation group a couple of times. My officials have worked really hard to provide service and support. By the end of the two-year period the members had done a lot of work together not just within the group, but also in ensuring implementation in their respective Departments and agencies. I felt a lot of confidence on the basis of their work. I acknowledge that. As I have already indicated, since mid-December we have had 1,100 reports. That means 1,100 children who may have not been, and probably would have not been, brought to our attention if I had not commenced that part of the Act and if people had not been ready and geared up. I am also grateful for that.

At the same time, I acknowledge Senator Freeman's point in respect of the other years and the number of children we may have missed. I have to carry that as a Minister, as does the leadership of Tusla, but I just wanted to begin by expressing that appreciation. We have had a good number of reports. One of our colleagues here asked the question, noting that it is still early days, whether that number may still spike. Will we get a greatly increased number reporting? That is a great concern among both my own officials and Tusla. Once people are really fully aware of their obligations and start to work through some of the training and so on, such a spike is possible.

One of things I was discussing with the chief executive of Tusla and some members of its board yesterday afternoon, however, is that they have been working for a couple of years to prepare for a national child care information system. I believe Members here know that. They are really bringing Tusla's IT system up to speed and rolling out a new approach so that it will be much easier to ensure that the information that is recorded in respect of children and families across the agency and the regions is shared appropriately and works efficiently. Tusla has determined that should be pretty much completed across the country by the middle of this year. That will make a significant difference to its capacity and ability to respond efficiently if there is a further increase in mandated reporting in respect of children and families throughout the country.

Obviously that addresses the IT part but we also need fantastic professionals who are trained adequately and so on. Both of those concerns were raised. Does Tusla have enough people? What about resources for training? I am aware of that but it needs the IT tools. I met the senior people in Tusla yesterday afternoon and they assured me that we would have that by the middle of this year. I expect and hope that will make a significant difference.

I am aware of the concerns which both Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin have raised in respect of the people who work in Tusla and their recruiting, retention and training. I hear what they have brought up in that respect very recently. The chief executive told me yesterday that this past month was one of the first periods in which Tusla recruited more staff than it lost. That is a positive sign, although it is still just one sign.It will shortly complete something I have sought for a long time, a workforce development plan, a key aspect of which will be considering the ways it mixes its staff and how staff work together and support one another in order to address in this case the issues surrounding mandatory reporting. There are so many unallocated cases, but putting this obligation on people does not mean the families or children in question will never see a social worker. In any case reported there is an initial assessment; a duty social work team is assigned and the family are monitored until they are seen by an allocated social worker. That is very important. I remember that when the One in Four report was presented, the related issues were identified. Perhaps the officials might update me on the outstanding cases and I would be happy to feed them back to the Senator.

The Senator also asked whether, in terms of the additional structures and processes to be put in place this year, I was satisfied that they would be fully able, ready, etc. by the end of 2018 to deal with children and families who would be brought to the attention of Tusla, as well as through mandatory reporting. Yes, I do believe, in the light of my meetings with it and where it stands in its transformation programme, that that will be the case. There are also many internal changes happening. For example, there is a more solid senior management team in the agency. I have visited several regional offices and met those working on the ground. I am aware of and can identify many changes that they believe will happen as we move through 2018. For example, 1,100 cases have been reported as a result of mandatory reporting. The numbers are lower than anticipated, but 1,100 cases are being processed. It is a good sign that it is dealing with them.

Senator Lynn Ruane raised excellent questions and points, as always, about mandatory reporting, with particular reference to adults and the additional time that might be required to ultimately ensure no child would be at risk. That is the most important point which was identified by the Senator. If we want to make sure there is no child at risk as a result of sharing information on abuse that took place in the past, we have to get it into the system. Things have to start to tick over and we need to make sure people wll stay with us. I have noted the questions posed and will ask the officials to send them to Tusla to hear how it will respond to them. I will make sure the response reaches the Senator. We will look for gaps and determine what is the waiting time. Could additional supports be provided, particularly for counsellors? They are excellent questions and it is well worth our time investigating and reflecting on them.

I have covered most of the points raised by Senators. Tusla has a sum of over €750 million. It has money available to hire more staff. Let us see it do so and how it will spendsthe money as the year passes. I meet the senior management team and the board quarterly and they know what my priorities are. I hope that their willingness to rise to the occasion on mandatory reporting will not collapse and that they are taking in what is in the additional reports. That will be a good sign for 2018.