Mr. Liam Woods:

On the wider planning, the calculation of the appropriate number of staff, and nursing staff specifically, is based on a ratio of 80:20. There is work being done on this, as I referred to earlier in answer to Deputy Shortall. It is also based on known patterns pre-Covid of attendance and leave. This work was done but to answer the Deputy's question, the pattern of absence over March, April and May and the likelihood of this recurring are matters we are very aware of and they are part of our planning framework for our winter process. We are very alert to this and very aware of what it might mean.

At the moment, our restriction, in fact, is the total available number of staff to employ in those cohorts. We are doing everything we can, as we have been for some weeks and months, to attract as many staff as we can into the HSE and voluntary bodies funded by the HSE.