Ms Laverne McGuinness:

In the mental health service, while these posts were not put in place, there was a level of agency work and we progressed with some of the community mental health teams. We are in the process of recruiting to fill a significant number of these posts and some of the personnel were in place by the end of the year. A total of 338 of the posts have been filled; another 40 personnel are on their way in the door and offers have been made to four more candidates. We cannot fill 20 posts.

We are waiting on the next cohort of psychology students to finish college in June. We are awaiting documentation in the case of a further post. The majority of posts will be filled. An additional €35 million has been provided for posts that are commencing in 2013.