Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I certainly agree with the thinking behind these amendments. We are all dealing, day in, day out, with constituents who are suffering because of inordinate delays in medical assessments. As I understand it, the Minister of State said on Committee Stage that the Department is quite willing to take on extra medical assessors. I presume the money is available to do that, but it cannot get people to apply for the jobs. I do not for one minute doubt the Minister of State's bona fides, but I find that difficult to understand because, as has been said, people who qualify as doctors are leaving the country looking for employment. It is not as if we are confined to Ireland when we are seeking to recruit these people. We have the whole world from which to recruit.

As has been said, and for all the reasons stated, it would be preferable to recruit people directly to work full time in these jobs if possible. Deputy Boyd Barrett's amendment seems to be a reasonable compromise. My understanding is that the Department wants to recruit permanent people, it cannot get them so it proposes therefore to fill the gap by resorting to people from agencies. If that is the situation, then amendment No. 4 is only putting into legislative form what is happening in practice already. I do not see any difficulty, therefore, for the Government to incorporate that into the legislation.

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