Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that the Minister has undertaken to look at Mullingar hospital given its location, the number of counties it serves and the high level of births that take place there, as I said at the outset. On the recruitment of the additional 52 sonographers, obviously that will not happen in one year. Has the process of recruiting the additional staff commenced? Quite often what happens with the HSE is that it makes an allocation for a particular calendar year, for example, 2018, but does not commence the recruitment process until well into that year. The full benefit of the services is therefore not realised in the calendar year. How long is the recruitment process going to take? Has the Minister identified exactly how many additional staff are going to be hired in 2018?

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