David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I accept that the number of vacant posts changes and fluctuates because people who are on maternity leave come back and because the HSE is constantly recruiting. However, I would be interested to hear what the accurate figure is. At a recent meeting of the Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, we had a good discussion on all of these issues. We talked about the CDNT census, which identified 542.5 whole-time equivalent posts as being vacant at that point. In budget 2022, an additional 190 posts were funded. How many of the 542.5 posts that were identified in the census are still vacant and how many of the 190 additional posts are vacant? Maybe that figure can be given. What we really need to know is how we will fill those posts and what additional measures can be taken, in terms of international recruitment, domestic recruitment and other ways, to fill them.

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