Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is why I am using the comparison. The Department of Education and Skills has a budget that it does not breach every year, yet many of its staff take maternity leave. How can it sort it out and the Department of Health cannot? I have parents coming to me whose child has speech and language issues and there is no speech and language service in west Donegal because the individual is on maternity leave and no cover provided because of this cost-cutting and the attempt to remain within budget. Podiatry services are not available since December of last year because the individual is on maternity leave.

I can understand this. If one is looking at a spreadsheet instead of humans and the impact upon them, there is a percentage of a workforce that will be on maternity leave in any given year. How come the HSE cannot budget for the fact those individuals will need to be replaced? It is not just a terrible situation for the patients and children who require the service but also for the staff of the HSE, given that if a person is going on maternity leave, her patients are not going to get the cover and care they need. How come that cannot be budgeted for?