Despite the fact almost 9,000 vulnerable children in Ireland are still awaiting the allocation of a social worker and 2,303 high priority cases were still to be dealt with at the end of February, these figures mark an overall improvement in annual statistics.

In response to a parliamentary question, Minister for Health, James Reilly, revealed that in addition to the aforementioned high priority cases, a further 3,866 cases considered 'medium priority' and 1,742 consider 'low priority' were also awaiting response.

Commenting on the figures, chair of the Irish Association of Social Workers, Donal O'Malley acknowledged the improvement, but expressed little surprise at the still considerable number of cases due to be handled, citing a lack of resources and administrative support as contributing factors.

Offering further explanation into the statistics, Mr. O'Malley said: "The reality on the ground is that we're dealing with an increasing number of child protection referrals and a decreasing number of social workers."

However, the figures do indicate an overall improvement in response times, with statistics showing that 8,351 cases had yet to be dealt with at the end of 2014.

Tusla, the Child and Family Agency attributed the implementation of new initiatives to the welcome 5% decrease in figures, saying: "Local Area Pathways and family support networks are allowing cases that do not meet the threshold for social work intervention to get an appropriate, proportionate response."

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