Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Vice Chairman will be glad to know that I am nearing a conclusion. To what extent has overall staffing throughout the health services increased in the past year or two years, given that during an bord snip nua's regime it went down dramatically? There have been many staff increases. This goes back to my question as to which area the staff increases have gone to. It is fine to say these are crucial posts. All of them are. If I was in one of the posts, I would say mine was a crucial post. The question, though, is whether staffing levels have gone up by 2%, 3%, 10%. To what extent have staffing levels gone up in general throughout the public health sector? I know there have been increases. Have they gone in the direction which is likely to affect most fundamentally the delivery of services to the public?