Mr. Éamonn Donnelly:

There are a number of factors. First, the Deputy referenced the section 39 agencies. It is Fórsa's view that the funding model for section 39 agencies should be in line with our caring at what cost policy, a robust State funding model. There might be some advantages in an agency having autonomy but there are many disadvantages in having to go cap in hand to its funders every year to see if it can still provide a service.

The national recruitment service was created in Manorhamilton in Leitrim as part of a Government agenda to bring work to isolated rural areas; we are supportive of that. It is an urban town in a very rural country. Manorhamilton has a very good cohort of staff but the service is only operating at half capacity. It is Fórsa's view that clerical and administrative recruitment should be taken out of Manorhamilton and put into the community. Clerical and administrative workers have a generic skill set and are easier than other staff to move around. The service received 21,000 applications for the basic grade of clerical officer. Nobody in the Manorhamilton office will be able to handle that. If appointments were dedicated to, say, nursing, midwifery and health and social care professional recruitment, that would ease the pressure on Manorhamilton somewhat. In addition, when an invisible moratorium, which effectively is a moratorium, is introduced and one has to jump through layer upon layer of derogation, that makes the recruitment job for national recruitment service nigh on impossible. As the Deputy succinctly put it, people will not hang around for a nine-month derogation to pick up a post, particularly those who are coming out of college who have other options. The service in Manorhamilton has been hard done by. With respect to the recruitment licence, if there is a challenge to something we do we can focus on what is the material cause and effect of the challenge and sometimes we concentrate on what might be the result of a challenge rather than 99% of the business which involves running a competition and doing that without getting overly hung-up on every aspect of a recruitment licence.