Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I will be brief, which is a pity as I had more than one question written down. This time last year, the Government made a commitment to hire an additional 114 assistant psychologists, which it more or less followed through with. My understanding is that 300 people turned up for those interviews so we have roughly 186 extra people looking for a job and we talk about recruitment and retention. According to information I received, some of those who were appointed to these 114 posts have already left their posts without carrying out any proper assessments or whatever responsibilities they had in their positions.

One individual spent their last week sending out 300 cancellations of appointments. I wanted to raise this issue at this forum because, as we are all aware, Ministers do not know absolutely everything that is going on. I wanted to flag the issue and I wanted Mr. Reid to know how difficult it is on both sides, because I am a realist. The issue is that somebody within management is not giving the proper information to the relevant Ministers. They are not cracking the whip, considering that there is a duty of care and responsibility with 114 new assistant psychiatrists. Many of them are not allowed to carry out any work. How many of them have left without doing anything? If one person can send out 300 cancellations in a week, is there any possibility we can find out the truth? Surely somebody in management with responsibility should be held accountable for that. I would like to know who.