Mr. Stephen Mulvany:

In the savings measures for this year, specifically in the service plan on page 82 as far as I remember it the target for a combination of agency conversion or doing without is approximately €17 million. Hospital groups and CHOs have said they will aim for more than that. People have said that in the past and it can be difficult to do. Even though the WT controls we have in place now do not allow people to be replaced they encourage people to come forward to their national director with well thought through plans to convert agency posts. While 94% of our pay costs are not agency but directly employed, we have no interest in maintaining people on agency. It does not suit the health service. It has a use for the odd short-term temporary vacancies here and there. It does not suit filling standard slots and rosters. There is not the continuity generally that comes with directly employed staff. In some cases in the west where they are medical staff we end up paying more than our contracts because the market is such that there are only a few people with the qualifications and they charge much higher rates. It is neither our policy, nor in our interests, to keep people on agency. We would like to see that reduced and there are some areas where there are unsustainable levels of agency, not just financially but that is not what we want in respect of quality of service.