Mr. David Walsh:

It is interesting. I was thinking of the north side of Dublin, and I cannot remember the exact number of CDNTs but there is a very clear divide. The CDNTs in the north of the county, where in my mind I would have thought it would be easier to recruit into, have the biggest problem with recruitment and retention. The ones on the city side are pretty much up there with regard to their complement. We get that right across the country. There are pockets where they are pretty much up to their complement, and other pockets where they are way down. Even those teams that are up to their complement, those are complements that were set at a point in time and they have not grown in line with the growth in demand. One of the functions of the disability action plan is that services would grow to meet demand.

It is a mixed bag around the country, however, as to where teams are with their resourcing. There are 91 CDNTs throughout the country, and many of them are led by some of our funded organisations rather than the HSE. Within those two, some of the retention issues are driven by the pay issues that played out recently in the dispute. It is to be hoped they will be addressed if that settlement is accepted by the members, but we need to continue to grow those teams and to address specifically the areas that have difficulty recruiting.

I will ask Mr. O'Regan to talk to the question about national standards.