Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 March 2026
731. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if an action (details supplied) contained in the 2025 HIQA Child Protection and Welfare Inspection Report for Tusla Dublin north city can be reviewed in terms of the potential consequences of a staff member in Tusla who is not qualified; what this means for oversight and management in this Tusla division; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16370/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra732. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she is aware of a complaint made by a parent (details supplied) following the actions of an unqualified person in Tusla in dealing with a vulnerable child; the actions that will be taken to ensure this never happens again; if she is assured of the structural changes being made by Tusla which will see non-qualified staff to undertake social worker duties; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16371/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra733. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality her views on whether suggestions that the changes being made internally by Tusla in relation to staffing and structures will see non-qualified staff members undertaking social worker duties; the basis for this suggestion that is coming from professionals (details supplied); the way in which she will ensure this does not happen; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16375/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 731, 732 and 733 together.
Tusla was established as the national agency tasked with the provision of child protection and welfare services, and for supporting children and families in the State. Tusla is required by law to be independent in its functions and day to day operations. It would not be appropriate for the Department to comment on individual cases.
There are challenges around the current level of social work vacancies in Tusla and challenges in recruiting sufficient numbers of social workers into Tusla. There are two significant matters contributing to this situation, the inadequate supply of Social Workers to meet current demands within the agency and staff retention. The Department is aware of, and concerned by, the difficulties that many employers, including Tusla, have faced in recruiting and retaining social workers. While there are many initiatives underway to seek to address these challenges, it has proven difficult to increase social work staffing levels in line with national demand in recent years. Despite these recruitment challenges, Tusla has achieved a national increase of 4% in social work employment levels between Oct 2024 and Oct 2025. This equates to an additional 69 whole time equivalent social work staff, in place across Tusla over that time period last year.
The Department issued as part of its Performance Framework for 2024-2026 to Tusla, a list of priorities for Tusla including the retention of social workers.
Following Budget 2026, Tusla’s overall funding now stands at €1.371bn, an increase of 14% over its budget in 2025. This money will ensure that Tusla can continue to manage over 100,000 referrals annually. This investment supports Tusla’s multi-pronged, sustained strategy to address the recruitment and retention of child protection staff. Some key actions include:
• International Recruitment: The Social Worker grade was added to the Critical Skills Occupation List in 2023.
• Expanding Domestic Supply: University College Cork introduced two new pathways into social work in 2024, expected to increase annual graduate output by 20%.
• Promoting the Profession: A national "Social Work Changes Lives" media campaign was launched in 2025.
• Career Development: A Health & Social Care Career Pathway scheme has been sanctioned in Tusla to support career progression.
• Enhanced Salaries: A new Special Care Worker grade with an enhanced salary has been created to attract and retain Social Care Workers in Tusla’s Special Care services.
• Continued coordination by Tusla occurs with relevant departments and employers through forums like the Social Work All Employers Forum.
• Budget 2026 includes funding for innovative “earn and learn” social work and social care work apprenticeship courses programmes and sponsorship. University College Cork introduced two new pathways into social work in 2024, which is expected to increase annual graduate output by 20%.
• In relating to the difficulties in recruiting additional social workers, there is a commitment in the programme for Government to double the number of college places for social workers. The Government approved an expansion in training places for a range of health and social care professionals. This will provide up to 361 additional student places by 2028, including college places for social workers.
In January this year, Tusla began implementing its Integrated Reform Programme which will promote equity in service availability. Regions and Areas will be more equitable, with more consistent structures and spans of control, and an open and transparent approach to more equitable resource allocation (internal and external). Tusla is moving from 17 Areas in 6 regions to 30 Areas/Networks in 6 Regions. This will lead to a far more equitable distribution of children across Areas/Networks, Staff will work as part of multidisciplinary teams, to ensure a range of professionals with different skills are available to respond to the needs of children, young people and families in the right way at the right time.
Reflecting an ongoing changing environment and social work vacancies, Tusla has moved to a more multi-disciplinary way of working with children now allocated to social workers and other professional grades where necessary and appropriate to ensure they have the support of a key worker. All children continue to be overseen by social work management. It is important to note that while cases can be allocated to other professionals, these cases are still overseen by Social Workers.
Tusla endeavours to ensure that all children and families who are assessed as needing a child protection and welfare service and all children in care have an allocated worker in line with an allocation framework. Tusla has a robust Standard Operational Procedure in place in the area to manage unallocated cases. The Standard Operational Procedure implements regular reviews of unallocated cases, with allocations being made by priority. There are also regular audits to ensure that the Standard Operational Procedure is being followed and adhered to.
This HIQA Inspection referred to was carried out between 24th June – 30th June 2025. The inspection was a monitoring inspection of Dublin North Child Protection and Welfare service to assess the progress made in relation to the actions identified to address non-compliances during the previous inspection in May 2024. The inspection identified significant system risks previously escalated to the Tusla Regional Chief Officer following the April 2024 inspection had not been addressed and required escalation to the National Office following this inspection. There are actions outlined in the Compliance plan to address the issues identified in this inspection and implementation is ongoing. The HIQA findings were escalated within the Department.
Tusla has in place processes and policies through which feedback or complaints can be raised with Tusla in relation to any aspect of its work. Details are available online at www.tusla.ie/about/feedback-and-complaints.
