Nuacht TG4 has learned that the number of people who have been recruited under Minister Simon Harris' "Ireland On-Call" initiative, announced on St Patrick's Day, is less than 2% of the applicants.

The figures obtained from the HSE reveal that 72,000 have signed up.
Only 14,000 of those have been deemed satisfactory - including ambulance, nursing, medical, dental, support, and health and social care professionals.

No numbers are given for those who have been interviewed as "interviews do not give a reliable indication of hire-potential". To date only 1,300 healthcare workers "are in the process of being made available for a role or have started a role."