Barnardos says better funding for social workers would be preferable to picking up the pieces after abuse or neglect cases.

It comes after a mother was jailed for four years yesterday on charges of cruelty and neglect of some of her children in the west of Ireland.

Child protection services became involved with the family in 2006 but some of the most serious allegations did not come to light until five years later.

Fergus Finlay, CEO of Barnardos, says there has been chronic under-investment. 

The Child and Family Agency Tusla is to review why the children at the centre of the case in Galway were left with their mother for so long after coming to the attention of social workers.

The 39-year-old woman was convicted of 29 charges of cruelty and neglect of her children.

She was yesterday sentenced to four years in prison.

During a trial last January, the court heard distressing details of how the mother used to regularly beat them and leave them in the care of strangers.

The woman's eldest daughter gave a powerful Victim Impact Statement at her mother's sentence hearing last week.

She said she still feels intimidated by her and spoke of how her blood boiled every time she saw her in court.

Kieran McGrath is an independent child welfare consultant.

He says the children were moved across different teams of social workers, which made it more difficult to form a clear picture.

"The family moved around a lot - which is one of the things that makes it more difficult to get a clearer picture about what's happening in a particular family," he told Newstalk Breakfast.

When they move areas it means that different social workers and social services are dealing with them in the different areas - and that just makes the whole thing more difficult".