Mr. Liam Doran:

No, there was nothing at all. The Department showed no awareness of, interest in or willingness to address the reality. There is a general section about recruitment and retention which is generic. There is no recognition in the Department of the extent of the crisis and no willingness to recognise it. We are still in talks on the margins and have not quite completed our part yet. To answer Senator Buttimer, there was no recognition of the reality facing the health system in respect of attracting and retaining our own people, doctors, radiographers, physiotherapists and so on. There was nothing done to give primacy, urgency or immediacy to the measures necessary to arrest the haemorrhage we have suffered for the past few years before everyone's eyes. Parts of Government appear absolutely oblivious to it. I did not come here to say that. Our frustration is absolutely beyond measure. This is not a union cry. It should be that the employer comes to us asking what does it need to do. That did not happen.