Dr. Edel McGinnity:

On the final question, I do not think there is an official recruitment embargo but there is a de facto embargo because HSE local areas have to manage their budgets. Effectively, when somebody leaves for any reason, they are not replaced. For example, with regard to child psychology in my part of Dublin, one of the child psychologists left and was not replaced, and there is now a 14-month wait for a child psychology appointment there whereas it is about three months in Lucan. That is what happens across all of those services.

The document refers to matching the numbers. For example, the public health nurses, who are very much to the forefront of care, are distributed in the same proportion in all areas whereas there needs to be at least 1.5 public health nurses in certain areas compared to one nurse in another area.