Ms Alison Coleman:

Those decisions are all made based on demand. The higher the demand, the more likely it is that those temporary sanctioned positions will be placed in that area of high demand. However, we are acutely aware of that rural versus urban piece. A number of new recruits will be based around the country in areas such as Clare, Louth and Waterford, although they will mostly be based in Dublin. There is a focus on where the demand says we need more temporary testers in the rural environment. We are filling those roles and they are not as hard to fill as those in urban areas. The majority of the posts are needed in Dublin. At last count, 13 or 14 new testers were coming into the Dublin region before the end of the year. The remainder will be in all our other 60-odd test centres around the country.