Social workers losing jobs despite Ryan report

The Irish Association of Social Workers claims the government needs to spell out in greater detail how the measures being put in place to provide an out-of-hours service for crisis cases will operate.

The HSE is piloting out-of-hours services for at risk children following the report into the Monageer tragedy.

It is also to extend it’s out of hours service to GPs, hospitals and mental health services in the wake of the Ryan Report on Institutional Abuse

President of the IASW Ineke Durville said the current services are not adequate to meet the needs of young people especially those who are not living at home,

“There are not enough residential placements. Many are not appropriate sometimes for some of the children that are out.

“They would have very complex problems and often the children just call into the services and actually don’t get a bed for that night.”

The IASW is also concerned that that some social workers are losing their jobs in spite of the government commitments in the wake of the Ryan Report.

Minister for Children Barry Andrews has said that 270 social work posts within the HSE would be filled, to enable every child in care to have access to a designated social worker.

Ms. Durville, said however that not all of these are new jobs,

“At the moment they’re filling vacant or temporary posts from a permanent panel. But that also has meant that some social workers that were temporary are now going to be losing their jobs because they’ve lost their contract and their contract hasn’t been renewed.”