Mr. Paul Lemass:

The Senator spoke a great deal about staffing in her first question, whether it is local authority staff or AHB staff. My colleagues might confirm it, but I believe the AHBs in the voluntary code have approximately 10,000 staff. There are many staff in the AHBs. They might not all be involved in the provision of social housing. In many cases, they have a broader remit. However, there are a number of staff involved with the AHBs. If there is a particular local authority where the Senator believes there is a staffing request that has not received sanction from the Department, we could undertake to look at that and see what staffing is being withheld. When it receives a request for sanction for staff, the Department's role is to either approve or withhold that request. In general, if it is part of a workforce plan that is already provided for and it is just a replacement of somebody who has retired, there is no necessity to come to the Department.