Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I stand by what I said to the Deputy. Of course, there was engagement between my Department and the Department of Health on a submission on recruitment and retention. It happened because my Department has overall policy responsibility for staffing, recruitment and pay for all public services. As part of the process in that regard, we examined extensively the data available for recruitment and retention in the health service. The Deputy has made a point about what is happening with the number of nurses in the health service. The figures available to me indicate that nurse numbers have been increasing steadily since 2013, by on average of 2.2% every year. The view reached on whether there was a recruitment or retention difficulty in the health service was not one that was reached by my Department but by the Public Service Pay Commission. The commission stated it did not believe there was a general issue in recruitment and retention in the health service, but it went on to state it believed there were issues in the nursing sector, be they related to profession or geography, and recommended proposals to address them. I accept that.