Ms Eilísh Hardiman:

We are all one, which is very important. We have 3,330 staff within Children's Health Ireland in the three locations of Crumlin, Temple Street and Tallaght. We are glad to report that we have been funded for staffing for the opening up of Connolly, which is very helpful, and further service developments this year, which involve badly-needed investment in paediatrics.

Our projections are for 3,663 whole-time equivalents across the hospital and the two paediatric outpatient and urgent care centres. We have developed a workforce plan to incrementally increase the workforce over the next year as opposed to waiting until the last year. While we acknowledge staffing is one of the challenges in new developments, I can report that in respect of the model of care we are trying to implement, we have been successful in attracting people back to the positions. We have advertised 14 consultant posts that have been filled. I am pleased to say that in general paediatrics, 18 people applied, 12 were shortlisted, four were appointed and we put two on a panel, which is fantastic. Therefore, we know there is a desire to return to the Irish healthcare system but it must be done in a way whereby there is investment in what is being done and we are transforming and making a difference in how we deliver our health system. That seems to be able to attract people. We have also been successful in planning nursing recruitment for the paediatric outpatient and urgent care centre at Connolly and, more importantly, the back-filling within the existing hospitals is well advanced.