Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That brings me on to my next question, which relates to the increase in the number of hours being provided by agency staff. It is estimated that up to 500,000 working hours are being worked by such staff. Will Mr. Bell give us an indication of the level of increase in recent years? More crucially, is he aware of a value for money audit of the purchase of such labour, as opposed to directly employed labour, being conducted by the HSE?