Professor Orla Hardiman:

We will have to get back to the Deputy on those specific questions.

One of the issues that arises is the attractiveness of certain positions. That goes back to our comments around the need to really develop, and support, hubs for neurology around the country. It may not be very attractive to somebody who has done training in a national centre in the UK, US or Australia to come back and work in a centre that is poorly resourced and under-developed with respect to the complement of services that are required to provide a quality service. It is not just a question of the number of people that we have in training nor is it a question of the recruitment to positions. It is a question of making those positions sufficiently attractive and that is a big challenge in some parts of this country. We really need to pay attention to that because there have been situations where posts have been advertised and the uptake or the attractiveness of the posts has been such that there have been very few applicants. That situation is a big concern given the unmet need in this area. So not only is it a question of the training of people, it is a question of making the posts that are available sufficiently attractive to attract the best and the brightest back. That is an issue. There are parts of the country that we really need to pay attention to and invest in to make sure that no matter where one lives one gets the same level and quality of care, and that is not the case at the moment, unfortunately.