Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the representatives from the HSE for coming before us. I am no different from any other Deputy in that I am also inundated with cases relating to parents of children who cannot access or have difficulties accessing necessary services. I have probably got a greater number of contacts in that regard on the basis that my son is autistic. The witnesses have dealt with the biggest problem, that is, the fact that when it comes to speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, OTs and psychologists, we have nothing but vacancies. I met representatives of CHO 8. They spoke about localised recruitment operations they have put in place that have been somewhat successful but are limited. They basically said, similar to the witnesses, that they do not foresee the international recruitment drive being as successful as it needs to be. Then they spoke about the wider issue of workforce planning, which does not relate to them. They have seen no sign that there will be sufficient throughput. Whatever about the short term, in four years' time we will not have enough of these positions. We know there are issues with conditions and so on. They spoke about the difficulties with CORU. In the part of the world I am from, a great many people have been trained in the North. There have been problems there. The head of disability services said that until we can deal with these capacity issues, we will not be able to offer the service. There were wider questions brought up about AON.

What can we do? I know that this may be a restatement of some of what has been said, but what can be done to get the best-case scenario in the short term? What needs to be done? What is hampering doing it now? Then, in the longer term, what conversations have the witnesses had with the Minister, Deputy Harris, or whoever else from the point of view of ensuring we have enough delivery?