Mr. Pat Healy:

Approval has been cleared for 80 posts, which will be made on a permanent basis. There is a commitment to utilise the resource to provide education and training to support the local implementation group process and to target local waiting lists while the permanent posts are being put in place using capacity in public, private or voluntary sectors. We have the challenge of dealing with the employment control framework which operates in the system. We are funded for a level of resource. We are covered for a percentage of maternity leave but we do not have approval to go beyond this. We try to prioritise therapy posts in particular. We have set out in our operational plan for social care for the year the importance of maintaining therapy services, particularly for children. In acknowledgement and recognition of the challenges in Dublin, such as Beechpark and autism spectrum disorder services, we prioritised the totality of Dublin during 2014 and we will continue to try to develop this, which is why we have specifically assigned 21 posts to the north of Dublin city.