Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to disagree with the Deputy all day but there are several factors that cannot be predicted. These include the outcome of the negotiations of the current general practitioner contract and the associated cost. That is dependent on the outcome of the negotiations. There are negotiations with drug companies as well. There is a major cost in that area. Another factor is whether a decision is taken or otherwise on pay increases. A total of 32% of our staff are nurses. If there was a Government decision taken tomorrow to give a pay increase, the HSE would not know in advance.

Several factors arise that cannot be anticipated simply by looking at the CSO figures. It would be great if we lived in a world where we could identify all these things. One of the major underlying challenges within the health system is the lack of an up-to-date information technology infrastructure to collect, share and analyse data. Our structure is not fit for purpose when it comes to the planning to which the Deputy referred. I imagine we would probably both agree on that.

The Deputy asked about agency staff. I am not the financial officer within the HSE but I will ask the HSE's financial officer to give me a report on agency staff. I will ask specifically that he address the question Deputy O'Reilly has asked about the HSE targets for conversion and how many have been achieved. I suspect the HSE will not have the figures for me until the year end or that we will be unable to get a year-end figure for 2018, but I will ask specifically for that to be given to the Deputy early in the new year based on the year end conversion figures.