Mr. Stephen Mulvany:

I would largely, but not totally, agree with the Deputy. He spoke about the pressures in disability organisations and other services in terms of providing residential disability services. Given the necessary regulation provided by HIQA and the results of those inspections, that pressure is typically pressure to be able to afford sufficient numbers of quality staff to meet the requirements. That is a significant pressure which services are under and it is a continual focus of our Estimates discussions with colleagues in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform each year.

Beside that pressure is the significant issue of the recruitment and retention of staff for section 39 organisations, in particular the pay rate. In financial terms, it is a smaller pressure. It is in itself a significant pressure. We have sought funding for both of those pressures this year. Unfortunately, we were not successful in securing resources for the pay rate issue referred to as restoration in section 39 organisations. We have to realise that the two compete for the same resources.