Mr. Martin Varley:

Potentially, yes. We are only working from the health budget.

In terms of international competitiveness in recruitment, there are many factors at play. Obviously, the headline salary is one factor. We have made a submission to the Public Service Pay Commission comparing salaries with those on offer in the countries to which our doctors and consultants are going. On average, they are paying somewhere in the order of 50% to 100% more. In addition, cost of living comparisons with some of the destination countries show that living costs in Ireland are up to 10% higher. Taxation levels are also 10% higher on average. When one makes net comparisons, one sees that Ireland is not competitive. That explains why we have not been able to fill posts that have been advertised, not only in mental health services but also throughout all specialties. I know of posts that have been advertised four or five times across specialties such as pathology, surgery and so forth. That is the real difficulty. Being competitive comes into play. The other fact that comes into play is that relatively we have fewer consultants across all specialties on an international comparative basis. That means that the workload here tends to be heavier which often manifests in the number of patients in a clinic and I am not just speaking about psychiatry. Furthermore, the resources available on the front line are more stretched.