Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs to discuss recruitment and retention of social workers

The meeting, with representatives of the Department of Social Sciences IT Sligo, and representatives of the Irish Universities Association will be a continuation of the committee’s discussions on this matter.

In advance of the meeting, the Chairman of the Joint Committee, Deputy Alan Farrell said: “The Committee has been engaged extensively on this topic in recent months, and we now will hear the perspective of the Department of Social Sciences in IT Sligo and Irish Universities Association on this matter.

“The recruitment and retention of social workers is one of the biggest challenges we face, due to a current limited availability of social work graduates, allied to a very competitive labour market. Waiting lists for social worker expertise exist across all service areas including children and young people, care of the elderly, and the disability sector.

Deputy Farrell concluded: “This remains the case even after a sustained recruitment and retention drive across all sectors. The reality exists that this is set to continue as the demand for social workers is not being met by the supply of graduates and the retention of social workers within specific posts is acknowledged as challenging. Consequently, a large number of vacancies remain unfilled across all sectors.”

Committee proceedings can be viewed live here: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/oireachtas-tv/cr1-live/

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.