Fórsa has reached agreement with the child and family agency Tusla to establish a panel to urgently fill a number of critical grade IV vacancies, which are needed to satisfy immediate service needs.

An interim panel was created in 2017 to cater for these requirements, pending establishment of the National Recruitment Service (NRS) joint panel. But it has since been exhausted.

Fórsa official Chris Cully said the new interim panel will be abolished once the NRS grade IV panel, which will cater for Tusla and the HSE, is in place.

The original plan was for the first interim panel to be disbanded once the NRS panel was established. But the joint panel is still in the planning stages.

The head of Fórsa’s health and welfare division, Eamonn Donnelly, said: “The finalisation of panels are another few months in the making as high population density geographical areas are still being worked through.”