Mary Moran (Labour)
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I thank the Minister for taking this matter. I was alarmed by a representation I received from a constituent several months ago who had been trying to contact the children and family services in the area regarding his daughter who is subject to shared custody. He reported that she was placed on the at-risk register. She is nine years old and she has lived with her father for the past number of months as she has refused to return to the mother's house. Her father and grandmother both reported to me that the child has had to seek medical care but is fine while living with her father. He has sought a meeting with a social worker for many months but has been unable to contact anybody. On one occasion, he called to the office and remained there for the morning in an effort to speak to someone.

I was approached by him for help and I contacted the appropriate services on his behalf. I also was dismayed by the delay in communication from the staff. Having taken the matter to a higher level more than two months ago, I was assured it would be dealt with. I received an e-mail from a social worker in early October confirming that they had spoken to the child's father but when I contacted the family that evening, I was told this was not the case and that no contact had been made. It is of great concern that this could happen. On contacting the area manager about this matter, he confirmed that the facts in the e-mail sent to me by the social worker were not correct. I again requested that a call be made to the father to allay his concerns, as I felt a simple telephone call by the appropriate person in the service would calm the situation and prevent the matter from blowing out of all proportion. Unfortunately, that was more than four weeks ago and to date no contact has been made between a social worker and the father. I contacted the area manager again this week and received no communication at all. It is worrying that excuses such as lower staff numbers and cutbacks are given when a telephone call lasting only a few minutes could resolve this issue. It raises a bigger issue regarding services for children. We had the children's referendum and we all said we wanted to ensure the rights of children were addressed and upheld. We continually say children are our most precious possession.

If this is happening in my area, will the Minister investigate whether this is being replicated nationally? I seek an immediate intervention by her in this case on behalf of a father who is trying to do his best for his daughter. Will the Minister examine the bigger picture to ensure adequate children and family services are provided in order that families in need receive the support they require?

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Under the Child Care Act 1991, responsibility for the management of the child welfare and protection system rests with the Health Service Executive, HSE. With regard to the specific case raised by the Senator, officials from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs contacted the children and family services of the HSE prior to this debate for the most up-to-date position. The HSE has indicated it will endeavour to contact the father involved during next week, that is, the week commencing 11 November 2013, and I will ask my officials to speak to staff in the service to highlight the urgency of the response the Senator believes this case warrants.

It is regrettable that there has been a delay in addressing this request but it brings into focus the serious pressures facing our child welfare and protection services and social work teams.

That is the reality of the situation. Child protection and welfare referrals to the HSE have nearly doubled since 2007, from 23,618 in 2007 to 40,187 in 2012. There is often focus on individual cases in the media and elsewhere, but the overall number of neglect and child abuse cases of concern being referred to the services stands at more than 40,000 in 2012. That will probably marginally increase to nearly 42,000 in 2013. There was a particularly sharp increase in referrals during 2012, from 31,626 in 2011 to 40,187 in 2012. I welcome that people are referring because they are concerned about children, but it puts pressure on the system and services. It means that people need to prioritise responses in terms of the more serious cases and make judgments all the time at the assessment point about what level of response they can give.

We re-launched the Children First guidelines in July 2011, and as a society we are working to create greater awareness of children who should be referred. Owing to the age and gender profile among staff, social work staff numbers are constantly in flux. There are 250 whole-time equivalent social work vacancies, including approximately 110 arising from maternity leave. That clearly creates pressures. There is considerable ongoing reform as well. Considerable work is being done within teams locally and nationally to manage the very assessments the Senator mentioned in this case to try to ensure a more timely response to child protection referrals or other issues the Senator raised about access and custody.

We have introduced, for the first time, new national standards for child protection services. The Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, is now involved in examining what is happening. We have extremely good reports from some areas. In other areas improvements remain to be made, but timely inspections are taking place for the first time.

I reassure the Senator about social work staffing. Clearly in the office she mentioned there is an issue with the number of staff available to deal with these kinds of cases. The current number of child and family social workers in post is 1,385 whole-time equivalents. This includes all 270 posts recommended by the Ryan report. Some 114 vacancies have recently been filled with a further 136 posts being filled, of which 51 have been accepted by candidates. We obtained a budget increase of €6.7 million to support child protection teams in the Estimate for 2014, rising to €12 million in a full year, which will allow for additional recruitment.

We will also publish the Children First Bill in the near future. I thank the Senator for raising this case and my staff have been following up on the details of it.

Mary Moran (Labour)
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I thank the Minister for her comprehensive answer and for her attention to the particular case. She mentioned extra funding and I ask her to consider the area of which I speak. I know they do a fantastic job despite being under serious pressure owing to cutbacks. When the families are at the other end of it, they feel they need some additional support. If extra posts are available, I ask the Minister to consider placing them in that area.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The CEO-designate of the child and family agency, Mr. Gordon Jeyes, is examining vacancies throughout the country to consider whether there are geographic inequities and to look at the level of pressure of cases coming into a particular area. I welcome what the Senator has said about the staff in the specific office who, I am sure, do their very best and deal with extraordinary pressures in trying to balance a variety of cases, make judgment calls and do proper assessments. Sometimes cases need to wait.

Mary Moran (Labour)
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I understand that cases need to be prioritised.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Cases need to wait a number of weeks. We are not in a position to respond immediately to every case.