Mr. Tony O'Brien:

The difficulty related to the number of staff who left in relative close proximity to each other rather than to the total number leaving in the course of a full year. The fact that there was a predetermined date by which a large number of staff had to leave would have created a particular challenge. However, the number of staff leaving the health service in the course of any given year would not necessarily differ from the number which left during that period. It was the coming together of that number of staff leaving that created the difficulty.