Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming before us and giving us their views. What has the HSE said about the recruitment pause? The Minister has said there is no pause. In Ms Ní Sheaghdha's opinion, what are the reasons for any slowdown or pause?

She mentioned that insufficient staff were available to staff wards and that there were beds available. She said many beds are available that cannot be used due to lack of adequate staffing. That is a simple question.

We had a meeting with the heads of services in our area in the past few days.

They seem to be optimistic about getting to grips with the situation in a much better manner than they had been able to do previously, for a variety of reasons. Can Ms Ní Sheaghdha tell us about the extent to which and the manner in which staffing levels are affected by career breaks? As she said, it has not been possible to allow people returning from career breaks to take up their permanent positions. To what extent has that affected the delivery of services? Where have such effects most often been recognised? Which region has been most affected in this fashion? On the question of recruitment and retention, can Ms Ní Sheaghdha give us an indication of the people who are most likely to be difficult to retain? Are they people who have been indigenously recruited or people who have been recruited through overseas recruitment? How does that affect the delivery of the service? Does Ms Ní Sheaghdha find that it is more difficult to retain those who have been recruited from overseas? Obviously, they may want to go back home. Where do they go? Has any of this been researched? Do they go to other overseas countries? I have some other questions that I would like to ask after Ms Ní Sheaghdha has answered the questions I have already asked.