David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Of course, there is more to do. Some €100 million is nowhere near what can and should be saved. Even in respect of the issues the Minister raised regarding how money can be saved, €100 million does not stack up. We have not even got to agency spend, where I argue a lot more can be saved. If a note can be given on exactly that, it would be important. I am sure we will debate these issues out in due course over the next number of weeks.

I will come to the pay and numbers strategy. The healthcare trade unions were before the committee last week, as the Minister might recall. One line from the INMO's opening statement reads, "Over 2,000 nursing and midwifery posts have been effectively abolished as they were vacant on December 31st 2023." We heard similar claims from SIPTU. We will hear from Fórsa next week. Their central charge is that what we have now is an embargo by another name, and very limited recruitment, because of the limitations of the pay and numbers strategy. Will the Minister respond to that charge of 2,000 nursing and midwifery posts that have effectively been abolished and the fact that we are now looking at industrial action by healthcare trade unions? All of this arises from the reckless way in which we approached health spending last year, which led to an embargo that caused all of this unnecessary tension in the first place.