Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is important to look at what the Minister of State inherited in terms of the number of people working in mental health services and where we are at in this regard at the end of 2013. By any credible stretch of the imagination, the bottom line is that there are far fewer people working in the area of mental health than there were before. That is a fact. Taking credit for recruiting people is untenable when the large numbers who have left mean there are actually now fewer people dealing with the area of mental health. That has come about because there was no aggressive recruitment process in 2011 and 2012. The Minister of State is now attempting to make up for the shortfall.

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