Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)

It is bad for patient outcomes. It is bad for workers. It really is shocking. Figures released to me by the HSE reveal that by August, €545 million had been spent on agency staff this year alone. If the HSE continues with this level of spending on agency staff, it will exceed last year's shocking figure of €726 million. Despite claims that it is going to cut back, we are going to exceed last year's overspend. At the same time, we have over 370 funded posts that have yet to be commenced. Of those posts approved in 2024, only 73 have been filled. In addition, only 20% of the posts funded for 2025 have been filled. The Minister talks about having these additional staff in place next year, but I think it is a fiction in many ways when we see the statistics showing that only 20% of those funded for this year were in post by September. Those posts are being left vacant, and we are overspending massively on agency staff. Take, for example, the €150 million pay deficit in hospitals. The main driver is locum and agency costs. I accept there is always going to be a requirement for agency spending, but we do need those permanent contracts. People want to take up these jobs. I received emails yesterday from agency healthcare workers. One worker said she has been on a HSE panel for over a year waiting for a job. At the very least, why are we not converting all of the previously committed agency posts? We know that 960 posts were identified for agency conversion over 2024 and 2025. According to a reply I got to a parliamentary question, only 749 have been onboarded. I take it this is the missed agency target that is referred to in the briefing document. Is that right? Is the commitment to convert 960 posts the missed target that was referred to?