Before we develop the point raised by Senator Fallon, there is a point I should like to raise, a Chathaoirligh. Having disagreed with your ruling, I hope I will not have any further disagreements with you this afternoon. This seems to me the only place I can raise this matter. I do not see in this section any co-ordination of the educational aspects of the social services. There are many aspects which come within the ambit of social services but we have not got the proper means of training the people involved. In our universities we have a social science degree. Once people get their degree they are foisted on the public as being experts in a particular area. I have come across cases of marital breakdown where young people were giving advice to married couples on what they should do, whether they should break up, or whether they should stay together, and giving advice which in some cases resulted in the actual breaking up of the marriage.
In Kilkenny we have a very good and well-established voluntary social service centre. We get people to follow up their training in social science but, unfortunately, there is no co-ordination in the educational process. The best social service workers are people who have been working on a voluntary basis in the deprived areas of our cities, towns and in the countryside. After many years of looking at the problems and seeing how they were resolved they know what is needed. Will the board co-ordinate whatever training is available for social service workers, and how does the Minister foresee the social service board improving the type of advice given at present by social service workers?