Mr. Bernard Gloster:

I will mention a couple of things and we can again speak to the numbers; it is no difficulty. I could list off a couple of items regarding the principal focus at the Cabinet committee, the first of which concerns the Department of further and higher education and the conversation about increasing the supply of allied help professionals. The simple reality is that every part of the health sector and, indeed, beyond the health sector, is now trying to recruit therapists for different reasons and there is a limited supply. The second thing is that the Department of education is building and designing its own special school service and special class service of providing therapy in the classes. I expect it will be advertising those positions in the coming months.

With regard to the HSE itself, the Taoiseach specifically asked me to see whether there is anything additional we can do in the short term in the private capacity to alleviate the pressure on the assessment waiting lists. That is the first thing-----