Mr. Michael Errity:

-----but I might spend a minute explaining the issue here. Traditionally, particularly people on the procedural side, as the Deputy would guess, could only take leave during recess. By the nature of every organisation getting busier, the recess here is now effectively down in the summer to the August month, so the opportunities for procedural staff to take leave are fairly limited. Also, it is provided in the terms and conditions of every Member of the Oireachtas's staff that they must attend to follow the sittings of the Houses and their committees, so that limitation is already in the contract of employment. We recognised we had a problem and we have come to an arrangement with the unions, effective from 1 April 2025, that over a four-year period all legacy leave must be worked down. Obviously, people will be working with their manager and the records are kept in HR. Already, from April to August, we have seen an 11% reduction in that figure-----