The ISPCC says 1,000 parents and children will march in Dublin this afternoon to protest at the low political priority given to childcare services. It described as "a system meltdown and a national scandal" the recent revelation at the Irish Association of Social Workers' conference that 2,400 cases in the Eastern Health Board area are on the waiting list for social workers.
"If there is such a large number of actual or potential child abuse cases unallocated or unmanaged in the Eastern Health Board region the number nationally is surely two or three times as great," it said.