Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I realise this area is of particular interest to the Deputy. The most important issue is that we plan. We will face difficulties in recruiting staff across the board until we build up those numbers. That is the reason certain measures have been taken. It is the reason we have brought back the community allowance and we are increasing the number of placements. We have almost €10 million in additional funding to increase wages as well. In addition, last June the Department funded a development clinical lead to work with our national clinical lead. That is to support the services in line with A Vision for Change once these consultant posts have been allocated. That means looking at data and activity data in the various areas to identify where there are immediate needs and where those in most need receive the support straight away. I cannot give the Deputy definite timeframes. This is a priority so these posts will be filled as soon as possible. We will deal with this.

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