Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I think it was acknowledged here that there is a shortage of actual investigators and a problem recruiting them. I also want to put a follow-on question.

Has GSOC, through the Department of Justice, fed this into the Department of further and higher education? One of the things that niggles at me - hardly a week goes by without us dealing with it - is that we are awful in this State at workforce planning and pipelines, whether that is not having enough plumbers or electricians trained for the construction industry, for example, or not having enough occupational therapists and speech and language therapists for the health services. Ms Logan is aware of this from her previous incarnation. GSOC wants and needs more staff but it is not able to attract new staff or even retain the staff it currently has. What is being done to rectify that? This issue is central to how we do our business in this State, right across public bodies and the public sector. It is about identifying the gaps and trying to fix them now. It may take three or four years to do so. Trained staff cannot be magicked up overnight. Has contact been made with the Department of further and higher education on this matter?