Mr. Michael Hegarty:

In relation to PDS and the Senator's question about recruitment and retention, we are having the same issues as every other network team throughout the country. We have two teams in Cork north-west and in Cork north-east. Both teams are down staff in each discipline and we are finding it difficult to recruit. Something that is impacting our recruitment is the fact that we are a section 39 agency so there are pay parity issues, which I believe are being addressed. That is creating a difficulty for us and our teams are certainly down staff. We are down by possibly 25% to 30% of our workforce and the staff that are there are trying their best to plug that gap at this point in time. It is also fair to say that those staff are getting tired.

In relation to section 39 workers, there is a 33% attrition rate each year. The HSE and a number of section 38 organisations are pulling staff from us, so it is difficult for section 39 organisations in that regard. We know this is a national issue and Ireland's success in having full employment makes it very hard to entice people into the sector. While it is a rewarding sector to work in, at this point, and particularly since the end of Covid-19, many therapists, newly qualified nurses, healthcare assistants, social workers, etc., are now heading to Australia and Canada. When we do exit interviews with staff we hear that they are going to travel. We are now in a difficult space and we are hopeful that in the medium term things will look somewhat better. To answer the Senator's question, we are in the same boat as every other PDS team and it is very difficult.