Ms Averil Power:

This may be a question for the NCCP. When the Minister was questioned about this issue in the Dáil, he said that money was made available for posts but was not taken up. What that means is it could not be taken up in some cases by the end of the year because the hospitals were not able to fill those posts fast enough. If a post cannot be filled in December, it needs to be filled in January and it needs to be kept open until somebody can be put in that role.