New Tulsa CEO wants to turn agency away from being 'defensive' organisation

The new CEO of Tusla has said he wants to turn the Child and Family Agency away from being a "defensive" organisation, while defending its role in other areas, including how it deals with issues in creches.

Bernard Gloster has assumed the role vacated a year ago by Fred McBride and speaking to RTÉ radio he outlined how he wanted to improve how Tusla interacts with people using its services and with the public, including opening up better lines of communication.

He said this would include speaking with parents whose children are attending creches where there has been any sort of child welfare concern.

However, he also told the Today with Sean O'Rourke programme that while there are currently 37 creches deemed to have critical issues, it would be a mistake to assume that all of those related to child protection.

He had been asked why Tusla could not inform parents as to which creches were deemed critical and responded by saying regulatory procedures prevented Tusla from doing so or forcing the closure or deregistration of some facilities.

Mr Gloster, a former Chief Officer in HSE Mid West Community Healthcare, said he also believed that Tusla was now beginning to reverse the trend which has seen social worker numbers fall in recent years because of issues over recruitment and retention.

He said there are now 1,700 social workers in Tusla between employees and agency staff, with 300 in a recruitment cycle.

"We also have people with whom we intervene and we are not welcome in their lives," he said, referring to child protection cases.

His comments came as a recently published Tusla Parent Survey Overview Report showed respondents mainly believed social workers were doing their best for them, but had some misgivings about whether they felt involved.

While 70% of parents interviewed for the report felt they were involved in making plans about what to do in their own case, that was a lower-than-average figure when compared to responses to other questions.

According to the report: "This latter figure is cause for concern and is an area where improvement should be a target." some respondents wanted more communication from and direct access to their social worker.

He also referred to the recent RTÉ Investigates programme and its alarming findings in relation to creches.

"I have been briefed in relation to another creche where there were child protection concerns about that creche," he said, adding that in that case, Tusla was able to step in and communicate directly with parents, whereas that would not always be possible in instances of non-compliance with regulations.

A year on from the damning findings of the Charleton Report, Mr Gloster said a fact-finding investigation was continuing into how those errors occurred and that "out of that there will be an accountability mechanism".

Referring to the Tribunal's findings in relation to Tusla and Maurice McCabe, he said he accepted them fully, adding that Tusla has become "very defensive", adding: "We are going to have to be much more open."