Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I will make one other point.

I understand the point about the international situation and trying to plug the gap by recruiting from other countries. It is worldwide problem, is it not? Places like Australia are recruiting from Ireland, while we are recruiting from Third World countries that lack the staff they need for their services. We have to look at our own students and start thinking, as the witness said, outside the box on how to recruit people and make it attractive to come into the services and not be enticed away. Sometimes people want to go away for a year or whatever to travel for personal and work experience, but we need to recruit from among our own students coming through colleges and secondary schools to ensure that, in two or three years' time, we have staffing levels that could take the pressure off current staff. That may also encourage them to think about not leaving because we will have a better work environment and better pay.