I acknowledge the work done by Deputy O'Flynn and the rest of Independent Ireland and thank them for introducing this motion. Ultimately, the Minister of State might have seen from some of the debate beforehand that there seems to be consensus about some things in this motion and a difference of opinion on others. A consensus has been reached when it comes to the acumen, personal qualities and professional attributes of those working in Tusla. We are very lucky as a state that the calibre of social worker and social care worker that we have at our disposal to work with children and young people throughout this country is not under question. That is why my analysis differs a little from the Deputies who proposed this motion, in that I do not really see the problem being the fault of Tusla at all. I actually think many of the structural problems faced in the service are down to a lack of investment and priority by successive Governments. Successive Governments have a history of not prioritising the rights of children and child protection issues, and how that manifests itself is us standing up in the Chamber or people getting outraged at the level of care they perceive are received from organisations such as Tusla when actually the problem is resourcing, beds and staff. That is where the Government, Minister and Department need to show a bit of urgency in responding. We cannot have a situation where a number of social workers have written to the CEO of Tusla to say the reform programme is not working yet, in her reply today, the Minister really championed the reform programme as an important part of Tusla’s development. There is a problem there. There is a breakdown in communication. We need an independent review of how the rollout of the programme of reform in Tusla has happened. To see 1,100 children in unregulated Tusla care is not okay. If nothing else was achieved by this motion, a firm commitment by the Government that it will put an end to SEAs within the lifetime of this Government would be something. It is doable and would be in the best interest of every child in this State. I am a professionally qualified social care worker. I did it for my undergraduate degree and I worked in social care settings for many years before I landed in youth work. We cannot have a situation where we have people who are not vetted but, equally, who are not trained to do what is often very nuanced, delicate, trauma-informed work. It is unacceptable in this day and age when we pride ourselves on holding care of the highest standards. It beggars belief that it is something Tusla or the Government would not only allow exist but to actually grow. It is just not okay. The Judiciary has highlighted many concerns about the rights of children and young people. One judge went as far as to say in recent weeks that the State is leaving itself open to serious claims of compensation in coming decades because of the blatant abandonment of the rights and services for children in State care. There are a number of different angles to take to approach this issue and a number of different Departments that might take responsibility but fundamentally it is the role of the Minister for children and disability to take this very seriously. The motion is very timely. I acknowledge the sincerity with which it was tabled today. We need to act with urgency. Having spoken to many social workers on the ground and many families, and having worked in communities in youth work or community work settings like many others here have over generations, it is not getting better. It is a race to the bottom when it comes to this and it goes back to resourcing. The big issue with regard to social care work and social work is they are both occupations and professions that people want to be involved in, yet year after year, when the CAO offers come out, we see that not enough people can matriculate. People cannot get themselves through school and into college. The points might be too high or the number of places too small. We need to be ambitious in trying to train up social care workers and social workers to meet an increasing demand for those services. We need to see schools across the country increase their capacity to make sure we can roll out enough social care workers and social workers to meet those needs. The response from the Minister highlighted there is much to be celebrated about Tusla. I agree but there are some ongoing concerns. Regarding the well-being checks the Minister initiated in 2025, I have to raise the issue of the significant number of young people who will be outside the scope of that review. We have made a request that those young people be part of that review. I ask the Minister of State to take that back and see what way we can achieve this legislatively to ensure that anyone aged 12 or 13 at the time of Covid and had their case closed is brought into scope quickly. Similarly, the Minister championed the idea that the national review panel would be put on a statutory footing as part of the Child Care (Amendment) Bill. Just today, the committee decided we were not ready to bring this Bill through Committee Stage yet because the Attorney General has not been in a position to bring the amendment forward regarding the national review panel. We need to see this work happening with urgency. I am not putting responsibility for this on the Minister of State whatever but the Government overall cannot afford to delay. It cannot afford to sit back and hope that the situation will improve when what we know is that the needs of young people and children are only becoming more dynamic, more diverse and more challenging. It is incumbent on the State to be responsive to those needs. I again commend Deputy O’Flynn. I take issue with the idea of commissioning a feasibility study that examines getting rid of Tusla. We have all been very critical of the Government and cannot then propose giving direct responsibility to same. There is a problem there. Without a credible alternative, the motion is hard to support because ultimately what will we end up without really understanding the problem is Tusla 2. I firmly believe in the staff and that the potential is there but we need to make sure the resourcing matches that potential.

Sentiment score: 0.15