David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I hear that and we all accept that.

I want to move on to the national service plan and the whole-time equivalent growth in staff from 2019 to 2023. There has been a significant and welcome increase in staff, albeit one that is much more limited in terms of growth this year because of funding, as we know. What really jumps out at me is that while looking at the percentage increases, which overall is a 22% increase from 2019 to 2023 and a clinical staff increase of 21%, if you look at management grades, that is, grade 8 upwards, there has been a 38% increase. In the case of grade 5 to grade 7, administration, there has been an increase of 71%. Looking at Ireland east as another example, the single largest growth in Ireland east was in management grades, which are up by 86% since 2019. In University Hospital Limerick, there has been a 133% increase in administration staff. When one looks at that and sees that clinical staff are up 21% but there is a 38% growth overall in management and 71% overall in administration, how can that be justified?