There can be a lot of misconceptions about the job of social worker. "When Social Services become involved with families who are experiencing difficulties, they can think that you want to split the family up," says Kevin Webster, a South Western Area Health Board community worker. "On the other hand, when you tell some people what your job is, they react towards you like you're such a goody-goody."

Neither of these impressions is really accurate, according to Mr Webster, who has worked in the profession for the past 20 years. "When you first approach families who are in crisis they can think that you want to take their kids into care," he says. "The whole point of social work is about keeping families together."

Also, the idea that many people have of social workers as put-upon, goody-two-shoes people irks Kevin Webster. "I'd prefer to have a more tough image with people," he jokes, "Seriously though, I do regard the job as political. Everybody has the right in this society to expect proper provision of welfare, education and resources, so we're involved in the social policy of trying to enable people access to improve their situation when it falls below what is readily acceptable."

In the past he has been involved in the traditional role of social worker, where you are assigned a caseload of about 20 families who are deemed at risk - in the majority of cases the problem would centre around child protective issues.

"A social worker would be asked to be involved if, for instance, the children from a family weren't turning up for school," he explains, "There could be a mental health issue, for example a single mother who is suffering depression and cannot cope with getting the children up, fed and off to school, may need the help of someone taking on that responsibility for a while."

In such a case, someone would be assigned to help alleviate the pressure. This is the work of the Family Support Service, which Webster explains has been developed as a preventative measure for families going into crisis.

There have been many developments in recent years in the scope and remit of the social worker in Ireland. "For instance, the climate from the 1980s which led to people reporting sexual abuse they had suffered, institutionally and otherwise, led to a huge legacy or backlog of abuse which had to be dealt with, this created pressures on services," explains Kevin Webster, "The new Childcare Act in the mid-1990s meant a huge expansion in the number and roles of social workers assigned to different areas."

Webster's current position as community worker is a developmental role, and which he sees as having a lot of value. "Community work is the preventative end of social work," he explains, "For instance you would look at measures you could take to prevent families having problems."

He suggests considering setting up a nursery in a certain area. This would help tackle issues like providing more support for parents and at the same time giving a positive educational environment for children. Another example is establishing a more accessible and confidential helpline for those - mainly women - who are experiencing domestic violence, to begin the process of changing that situation.

"The downsides of the job are the complete frustration at the lack of resources, for instance the shortfall of foster care places," says Webster. "There is also the personal emotional cost of working with people who, when they are in crisis, are at their worst."

There are rewards from the job too, of course: "I feel I'm involved in meaningful work, which can have a positive impact on people's lives. When I have a mid-life crisis and start wondering what the point is, at least with my job it is very clear what the point is."