<p>
	Labour&rsquo;s Jan O&rsquo;Sullivan says the reduction the number of such cases is &lsquo;inadequate&rsquo;</p>
<p>
	More than 5,000 children who have been brought to the attention of child welfare and protection services have still not been allocated a social worker, it has emerged.</p>
<p>
	Minister for Children Katherine Zappone told the D&aacute;il on Tuesday there had been a 19 per cent reduction in the number of at-risk children without an allocated social worker since the end of 2015.</p>
<p>
	However, Labour spokeswoman on children, Jan O&rsquo;Sullivan, said the target for the end of 2016 had been a 60 per cent reduction in the number of such cases.</p>
<p>
	She said the 19 per cent reduction &ldquo;is totally inadequate for the children who have had no social worker allocated to them, despite the fact they are at risk&rdquo;.</p>
<p>
	The Minister said that, in December 2015, there were 6,718 children without an allocated social worker. By the end of 2016, there were 5,413 such cases.</p>
<p>
	Ms Zappone said cases were assessed and prioritised according to risk.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;It will continue to be challenging to address the problem of unallocated cases, but we made good progress during 2016 and Tusla will continue to prioritise the issue in 2017.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
	She said that one of the key challenges was the recruitment of sufficient social workers and key support staff.</p>
<p>
	The Minister said an addition &euro;4.2 million in funding had been provided to recruit almost 70 social workers and to deal with legislative issues.</p>
<p>
	Ms Zappone said she hoped an extra 200 social workers would be in place by the end of this year, bringing the total to 1,675 full-time workers.</p>
<p>
	The Minister said she had provided Tusla with an additional &euro;37 million this year, bringing its overall allocation to more than &euro;700 million.</p>
<p>
	She added that the 60 per cent reduction target had been &ldquo;self-imposed&rdquo;, but she was aware it had not been reached.</p>
<p>
	&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	McCabe case</p>
<p>
	Referring to the case of Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe, and the Tusla file that had been created on him that included false allegations of sexual abuse, Ms O&rsquo;Sullivan asked the Minister about the closing of case files when there was no longer perceived to be a risk.</p>
<p>
	She said: &ldquo;We really need to know how . . . incorrect data were still on the Garda system a year or so after it had been identified that they were not correct.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
	Ms Zappone told her that systems were now in place to deal with such an issue.</p>
<p>
	She reiterated that she had requested a full review of the systems and processes of Tusla in this regard, because she too was concerned about the case.</p>
<p>
	&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	(Published by the Irish Times on the 15th February 2017)</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/oireachtas/over-5-000-at-risk-children-have-no-social-worker-d%C3%A1il-hears-1.2975925">http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/oireachtas/over-5-000-at-risk-children-have-no-social-worker-d%C3%A1il-hears-1.2975925</a></p>
