Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The committee keeps hearing about HR practices within the HSE, and not much is good. Staff have hidden pregnancies for fear of not getting promotions or of something happening to them, while junior doctors have had their training records falsified by hospitals because they work hours well in excess of European directives and are supposed to receive training. There have been burn outs in all the grades that SIPTU represents. "Overwhelmed" is the word Ms Monahan used and that I will use later, and that we have heard more and more frequently. Healthcare is busy. It has always been, and will always be, a busy, high-pressure environment - such is its nature - but it cannot be overwhelming for staff or patients. SIPTU represents workers throughout the country in many organisations, some with healthy HR practices and others with unhealthy HR practices. In respect of how it treats its staff and of its HR practices, how does the HSE compare with good and bad employers in Ireland, about which SIPTU has an awful lot of knowledge?