Mr. Paul Reid:

I will add a few brief comments to what Mr. Watt said. I referred to figures on recruitment earlier. It was unprecedented to have recruited 35,000 staff, 12,500 net, in the past two years. What is more important to me is that the mix of staff have been a much better mix than there might have been in the past. They included the recruitment of 3,300 nurses and midwives, of whom more than 2,150 were staff nurses and midwives; almost 2,000 healthcare assistants; and more than 2,300 in patient and client care, including healthcare assistants. The challenges we have, some of which the Senator touched on, include the recruitment of consultants. There has been a 358 net increase in the number of consultants in the past couple of years but that is a massive challenge for us across all the specialties. As I mentioned earlier, there are some geographical areas in which we find it particularly difficult. South Kerry was a clear example of that and, indeed, Donegal can be as well. There are severe challenges in some areas and regions. Highly qualified professional consultants like to be in the big urban centres and urban functions.

I will add one other point to what Mr. Watt said and it is something I passionately believe in.

I talk to a lot of our staff regularly. We would have been able to get out and about much more, but we have webinars and we talk. I passionately believe that our teams like working in the health service. When things go wrong, it is not good. None of us can stand over things that have happened, whether it is in south Kerry or other instances that happened where wrongs or harms occurred. Overall, the Irish health service provides, by equivalent with other health services, a good service in terms of people's longevity and life cycle, cancer treatment and cardiac treatment. It does not always get reported.

I agree with Mr. Watt to the extent that it is a role for me as leader and it is certainly a role for me and my teams, but there is a wider public role in terms of how we draw out many of the clichés about the HSE and the health system. It does hurt the system and it does not make it easier for us. I am not saying that people should not challenge, criticise or have a go at us, but the general commentary does not always reflect the reality of what our teams are committed to in the health service. I am committed to help them as well.

I will not go through what has been said about GPs, but it is a challenge. I went through some of the figures earlier where we are trying to scale up with the ICGP. Everybody is committed this.