Ms Phil Ní Sheaghdha:

I thank the Deputy. The WRC process is conciliation, as the Deputy knows. We engaged and we sought numbers from the HSE. We then met its census people and they set out the manner in which they had engaged. We were then to reconvene. That is my point: five dates were offered, and the HSE was not available for any. In the meantime, we had the pay and numbers strategy introduced in July. In our view, the pay and numbers strategy is based on a false premise and that is causing the problems we now have in the services where we are short. We are short-staffed everywhere.