Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 578: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide details of any pilot areas for out of hours child protection social work services; the length of the pilot programme; the number of cases referred to the out of hours service in each area; if the pilot programme will be established on a permanent basis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25158/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The HSE has piloted and is currently evaluating two out-of-hours pilot projects, one in Donegal and the other in Cork. The Donegal pilot project commenced in mid 2011 and the Cork project in the third quarter of last year. Both projects are still running and involve the provision by local HSE staff of social work support out-of-hours where deemed necessary by Gardai. HSE social workers are on call out of hours to respond to referrals. I am informed by the HSE that having undertaken an initial internal evaluation, it commissioned an independent external assessment of the projects. This evaluation, which is being undertaken by Trinity College, is expected to be completed in the very near future. A decision on progression to a national rollout will be made following evaluation of the two pilot projects and other relevant data.

The enclosed table contains the latest available information on activity levels in the pilot sites.