Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome both the witnesses and wish them the very best in their roles. Mr. Devane referred to the issues of access and capacity. The first recruitment moratorium was introduced in the HSE 12 years ago. By way of context, I happened to be a trade union organiser at the time, and we were engaged in an industrial dispute with the HSE about what the Government of the day was doing in with that moratorium. We are feeling its effects now, and will continue to feel them for quite some time. At the time, we were given to understand that the board had relatively little, if any, involvement and that it could not take a position or view on the moratorium. However, from what Mr. Devane said about the establishment of these committees, it seems his intention is to be proactive around issues of access, human resources, people and culture, and so on. I would have called it industrial relations, but one may use whatever terminology one chooses. The HSE board has not traditionally been very hands-on, although it should be. Is it Mr. Devane's intention that the board will have a proactive role and will assist with issues of access? It has been 12 years since the moratorium was first introduced and its impact is still being felt to this day. There was a genuine belief among workers at the time that the board should have stepped in, but it did not.