Mr. Bernard Gloster:

Absenteeism rates in Tusla run at about 4.5% to 6.5% of the workforce. One of the things we do is we try to separate out our residential care staff absenteeism from the rest of the workforce to get a better understanding because residential care has a particularly high absence rate. That is to do with things like the stress levels the Deputy talked about but also very high incidence of assault and assault-related injury. In relation to social workers, we do not measure the specific causes because a lot of people when they are certified as sick may choose to say it is work related or they may choose not to, so it is difficult. I would have no doubt in agreeing with the Deputy that it is a factor.