David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will take just two or three minutes and leave it at that. I wanted to come back in to get a sense of what the interaction is between the Department of Health, the HSE and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. We want to be successful on workforce planning. We have got some information from Mr. Watt and Mr. Reid today but it would be important to get those detailed notes we were looking for, where we would have the projections of what is anticipated across increased training places over the next number of years. This will be important to give us a clear picture of what is actually happening. I wish to come back to something that Mr. Watt said earlier. Mr. Watt said that even from what he can see from the projections, it still is not enough. That does not seem to be a plan. If it is not enough then it is not acceptable. We need enough. It must be sufficient to meet the demand. The demand is there from demographics and we know how well this has worked out in terms of what the additional demand would be. What is the structure between the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the Department of Health? Is there a high-level group? Do they meet on a regular basis? How often do the two Ministers meet? Is there a forum where all of the stakeholders can meet on a regular basis? What is the structure?