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

This is a familiar political chestnut that is often thrown around in these fora. I am not a spokesperson for the HSE. I have a responsibility within the Department that oversees the work of the HSE, but the HSE is better able to answer these questions itself. I intend, therefore, to give a broader context.

Politicians like to make the popular point that there are many managers in the HSE, that they are all fat cats with massive salaries who promote themselves and so on. As politicians, we have accountability and responsibility. We demand accountability, and we want answers for tens of thousands of parliamentary questions that are tabled every day. The last Deputy that raised this issue with me on the floor of the Dáil is probably one of the Deputies who table the most parliamentary questions on the HSE. We cannot, however, have it both ways. We cannot expect such accountability, demand we get all the answers and expect a team of those responsible to appear before us on every issue that arises on the 9 o'clock news that night. We submit thousands of parliamentary questions and we make representations in their tens of thousands. Somebody somewhere must deal with them but they are not dealt with by nurses, doctors or front-line staff.

Those issues are the responsibility of HSE management. There was a pause on recruitment to managerial positions within the HSE during the recession unless absolutely necessary.