Mr. Jim Gibson:

In respect of the supply and demand, we can look at the number of graduates coming through, the gender statistics and the propensity for young people to go and travel. We are in business with lots of community and voluntary organisations, where we find very mature people voicing a desire to follow a career in social work. However, they are generally married with a few children and a big mortgage and they cannot afford to go to college for four years. We have engaged in some preliminary discussions with the Irish Association of Social Work, which I meet on a quarterly basis, about developing pathways for that cohort of mature people, who are embedded in their communities and are going to stay around, to be able to qualify in social work. I have spoken to the HR director about these things. There has been engagement recently with the universities and the Department, during which that very measure was on the table for discussion. Perhaps we can create pathways whereby we can employ these individuals in a certain grade and look at block release so they are training on the job. That would allow us to identify those who are keepers because they are from the area and are committed because they have a mortgage and a family. That is an untapped market that I have flagged to the HR director and the Department in discussions. We are hoping we can see something coming from that.