Call for numbers of social workers to increase by 30%
The Irish Association of Social Workers is calling for a minimum 30% increase in the number of social workers.
There are currently 1,400 social workers across the country and the group has said they need at least 300 to 400 more.
It comes after figures from HIQA showed 177 cases of alleged abuse were awaiting allocation of a social worker last August in the Dublin, Wicklow and South East areas – as well as allegations of abuse at a
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Chair of the Irish Association of Social Workers Donal O'Malley says, ideally, the number of social workers should be doubled.
“If we want the kind of child protection service that we feel our children deserve, to try and reduce the risk of these kind of issues happening again, we’re looking at instantly a 30% increase,” O'Malley.
“Currently there are 1,400 social workers. At a very minimum you could certainly double the service, if you wanted a service that was probably resourced.”
