asked the Minister for Justice if he will state the deployment of social work posts funded directly or indirectly by his Department in each: (a) health Board area and (b) community care area.
Written Answers. - Social Work Posts.
360.
The only social work posts funded directly by my Department are in the Probation and Welfare Service of my Department. These posts are not deployed by reference to health board or community care areas but by reference to the activities of the service, which involve servicing the courts, the prisons and places of detention, the special schools, the Youth Encounter Scheme, the Adoption Board and also involve looking after persons after their release from custody. There are at present 129 posts in the basic grade of probation and welfare officer and they are deployed throughout the country as follows: Dublin 71, Cork Nine, Limerick Nine, Kerry Five, Wexford Five, Waterford Five, Westmeath Five, Galway Five, Sligo Five, Louth Six, Wicklow One, Cavan One, Laois One, Tipperary One. In addition there are 24 senior probation and welfare officer posts, four assistant principal probation and welfare officer posts and one principal probation and welfare officer post.
Social work posts in voluntary adoption societies are partly funded by annual grants paid by my Department. The main purpose of these grants is to enable adoption societies to employ more qualified social workers. In all there are 13 voluntary adoption societies, five of which are in Dublin, two in Cork and one each in Kilkenny, Clare, Meath, Donegal, Waterford and Sligo.