Mr. Robert Morton:

At present the majority of people, not all people, are trained in the NAS college. We do recruit some direct entry people when we can get them. We have a rolling advertisement every year. The University of Limerick is the only university with a direct entry paramedic programme. We are in talks with it about advertising for undergraduate interns next year. We would then be able to take in its graduates and provide an undergraduate internship next year as part of our workforce planning. We also propose to speak to SOLAS about an apprenticeship model. This conversation has already begun. We are also looking at a hybrid model with universities. The way we train will have to change. We have two streams and we need to increase this to four streams to try to accelerate our ability to acquire staff.