Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for being here to give a response. While I certainly welcome the expansion of the DEIS programme, my question was not about that. It was specifically about the welfare office. I accept that the Minister of State said that more than 700 young people receive interventions. That just shows the number of young people and the extent of the community that need this support. The Minister of State mentioned that the recruitment process is under way to fill this job and that management at local level have been working collaboratively to bring everyone together for interventions. It is not working. The efforts of the home school liaison and school completion programme are toothless without the legal standing of the educational welfare officer to support their work. The educational welfare officer is an essential piece of the puzzle.

I again ask the Minister when the Curragh-Kildare school completion programme can expect to have a replacement educational welfare officer. What caused the delay? I appreciate the Minister of State is not within the Department of Education but what will that Department do to ensure that should such a situation arise in the future, the position be filled in a time-efficient manner? This case is in Kildare but it could happen anywhere in the country. It is too big and too important of a piece just to be ignored and not to have something set in train.