David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I would say to the Minister for Health as well that we need to increase training places in this area. Obviously, we need more of a pipeline of staff coming through.

I welcome that this is an area that was added to the critical skills lists as well in recent times, which means that international recruitment is now an option. The reply I received recently to a parliamentary question referred to a relocation payment that could be provided as well to entice some people to come here from abroad. That should not be a substitute for dealing with the many reasons why we have disparities in some of the teams because there are 16, 17 or 18 different providers of services. The HSE is the biggest provider for these teams but there are many section 38 and 39 organisations. There are pay parity issues at play which need to be resolved as well.

The HSE says it is looking at a sponsorship programme, an apprentice programme and other measures. All of those are needed. Everything that can be done should be done to fill those vacant posts because there are far too many hours which are not being delivered to the children.

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