Mr. Michael Hegarty:

I thank the Deputy for her question. We ask ourselves every day and across our service how we will manage this recruitment crisis. We are in a crisis and it is very serious. The staff, as the Deputy said, are working on good will and some of them are running out of steam. They have been through Covid, which we expected to last for three months, then six months and then two years but we are still on that road. They are finding it difficult and they are tired. I appeal to our staff to bear with us over the next period.

As for how we address it, that is a very difficult question. Yesterday, we met with a cross-section of staff from across our services, from healthcare assistants and nurses to those working in day services and residential services, to ask them what ideas they can come up with. We need to think outside the box. Deputy Joan Collins mentioned students. We are linking in with our local secondary schools to have their students do transition year placements in St. Joseph's. That will not solve the problem in the next year or two but perhaps some of these students will decide that entering health services in the voluntary sector to give back to their community could be a career option.

We will visit Munster Technological University, Cork and South East Technological University and all the colleges to speak to social care students and promote the disability sector as a place where they can have a career with many options and different pathways. Whether it is fortunate or unfortunate I am not sure, but we are a recession-proof industry. Our staff will be required no matter what happens. To some extent, we are trying to let people know that the jobs will be there in 12 months, two years, five years and ten years because unfortunately, as I said, people need our services. That is something we need to highlight to people.

It is a reality across our sector that we are now looking at international recruitment. We have to look outside Ireland and make Ireland and St. Joseph's Foundation attractive for people to come to. There are multifaceted issues in relation to that. There are housing and accommodation issues, visa issues, etc. Despite the complexities involved, we are in the process of recruiting internationally.