Mr. Tony O'Brien:

It will extend to section 38 agencies. At this point it is important to recognise there is a significant distinction between section 38 and section 39 agencies, which were not the subject of this report. We have received correspondence on this matter just this week from the Department of Health which makes it clear that, formally speaking, they are not subject to public pay policy but we will be writing to all of them, as requested by the Department, asking them to have due regard to public pay policy. Clearly, that is different from an absolute obligation to abide by public pay policy. While many of the section 39 agencies may be in receipt of substantial public funds, they may not, in the majority, be funded by the HSE.