Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The regional executive officers have already been given that authority. It marks a substantial shift. I will give one example to illustrate it. The Wicklow town primary care centre urgently needs therapists. During the embargo, one of the major hospitals in the same region hired quite a number of staff. Not only did the hospital have no money and no sanction to hire those staff, it was explicitly told not to do so. The hospital went ahead and did it anyway. As I said to Martina Queally, regional executive officer for that region, she now has to have, and has probably started, a very difficult conversation with that hospital, telling the hospital it hired 80 or 90 people whom the hospital was told it was not allowed to hire. The Wicklow town primary care team is badly in need of people. It is easy for us to say it here. On the ground it is obviously very difficult, but it is already going exactly the way Deputy Shortall referred to. It is going to take some time, but it is going there.