Mr. Pat Healy:

The report acknowledges some of the issues the Senator raised and the implementation of the 0 to 18 programme is our response. The 80 posts will be advertised this month but we are also going to utilise the resource associated with that to facilitate the part of the 0 to 18 programme which emphasises the need for training, education and working with local teams, etc., in rolling out change programmes. We will also be targeting a number of specific waiting lists while the permanent posts are being put in place. The Senator can take it that this will be happening.

Senator van Turnhout also asked us to capture certain information for her. Unfortunately, it is not available in the exact form she was seeking. I was trying to demonstrate the point that there is a prioritisation of therapy posts. The Senator can take it that we prioritise therapy posts in the children's service and I state in the report that issues arise when people take maternity leave, etc. In such circumstances and given that the service is not fully resourced, vacancies and things of that nature can arise. This poses a challenge from time to time but we do prioritise the filling of posts within the children's service. I also set out in the report a number of creative initiatives people are implementing locally in order to try to overcome of the challenges presented by the existence of vacant posts. I will make further efforts to see if it might be possible to present the information requested by the Senator on a more localised basis.