Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Beidh mise mar an chéad cainteoir eile. One issue that has annoyed me for some time, even previously in my role as a city councillor on Galway City Council, is that of agency spend. We have seen that it has gone from a spend of €350 million to €650 million in a four to five year period. If we look at that trend and the figures that we had up until August, it seems that if the trend up to August is maintained, that figure of €650 million will be exceeded. In fact, it looks as though a figure of €700 million will be exceeded with regard to agency spend. Does Mr. Mulvany concur with that figure? Does he think we will go higher than last year's figure and could it exceed €700 million?