Debate contribution: Social Services Vacancies: North Belfast and West Belfast
Debate contribution by Miss Órlaithí Flynn on .
- MLA
- Miss Órlaithí Flynn
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 8 October 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Adjournment
- Heading
- Social Services Vacancies: North Belfast and West Belfast
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4582082
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Minister for coming to this afternoon's debate. I am conscious that we spent a couple of hours earlier debating children's social care services, and all the points that were made in the Chamber earlier are, of course, relevant now. As Carál and Nuala outlined and as you know, Minister, North Belfast and West Belfast, the areas that we represent, sadly have some of the highest levels of deprivation in the North. Carál also mentioned the 81 vacancies that the Belfast Trust had as of summer 2024. I know that the Department was putting in place a recruitment process, and the hope was to recruit 60 new social workers. When the Minister responds to the debate, it would be great to get any update that he may have on that. Regrettably, the feedback that we receive from social workers and families — I can speak only for West Belfast, but Carál and Gerry are here and others can speak for North Belfast — is that the situation is getting worse, hence the need for this afternoon's debate. It is really worrying that we hear directly from the mouths of social workers that "services are no longer safe". I do not think that warnings get any starker than that. It is really worrying. There was feedback related to the strikes that were held just before the summer, with social workers from the Belfast area saying that children's lives were being put at risk in the current circumstances. That is really worrying for all of us in the Chamber, and, hopefully, we can make some progress. Given the situation that we are in and given all the limitations on the budget, there is definitely a role for cross-departmental working, and I know that the Department is looking into that. We need to seriously look at every option in the immediate term, given that social workers think that children's lives are at risk. Carál made the point: what are we waiting for? Are we waiting for the next SAI and something terrible happening to a child? We know that the system is broken. It is about how we can rectify the problem. Carál mentioned that, like the rest of the health and social care system, social workers face burnout. We know that they work 50 to 60 hours per week and have additional stress, but, when I have spoken to social workers locally, they have told me that one of the biggest mental burdens is not even the additional hours and the excessive workload; it is the guilt and regret that they feel because they know that they are not meeting the needs of the people in the constituency who need help. They carry the mental burden that they are potentially not helping the people, families and kids who need help. I will finish with some of the cases that I have been dealing with in my constituency. Some kids — some of them are really young — are dealing with really bad mental health issues and addiction issues. I am talking about kids who are really young. The social workers who work with them are, again, in fear that they are not able to give the cases involving those kids and those families the time that they want to give them. The other example is the families with children with learning disabilities whom you mentioned, and we must give credit to that BBC programme. One of those mothers is in my constituency of West Belfast. I wrote to the Minister about her and her son's case previously. Again, it is about how all those flaws in the system impact on the most vulnerable families and on the kids who need the help and support. I look forward to hearing the Minister's response.
632 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.96).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.96 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.89 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.10 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:13 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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