Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome both the witnesses today and hope they have never felt that they were "dragged" before the committee. I am delighted they have come before us to clarify some points.

Going back to the first response Dr. Pidgeon gave on the nine recently recruited staff, she said the contracts were for six months and used the phrase "full-time". Those are not permanent posts. There is no security. One of the issues that contributed to the departure of 11 people over the first six months of the year was insecurity and the general sense of things within the organisation. Surely the anchorage that is needed is job certainty and security. Does Dr. Pidgeon hope to be able to make these temporary positions, as they clearly are, into permanent posts? Is that something she envisages in the short term? I would be of the view that the numbers currently presenting are likely to maintain themselves for some considerable time. Surely this is a requirement in order to deal with the work levels that are presenting for the NMBI now and into the future.