Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is a fair point. We referenced another issue with agency staff in our March report on the HSE, namely, the number of retired and former HSE employees who are back working in the health service as agency staff. We have pursued this issue with a number of Departments. For example, the Department of Education and Skills can tell us that there is only this or that percentage of such staff. It can be specific. It can even identify which schools are using retired teachers for substitute work. Is the HSE in a position to identify how many people working in our hospitals as agency staff are retired HSE employees?