Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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That is grand. I will get her to give the Minister a buzz. Mr. Reid referred to gain sharing in terms of the use of biosimilars and suggested that the money could be ploughed back in. With regard to gain sharing and the conversion of agency staff, this is something I have spoken to Mr. Reid's colleague, Mr. Mulvany, about ad nauseamand, God help him, he never gives a different answer, to be fair.

We all agree agency staff are more expensive. It is not something anybody can dispute. Where a hospital manager can convert expenditure on agency staff, can the money be used to recruit additional directly employed staff at the cheaper, more cost-effective rate? Alternatively, if he or she manages to make the savings by converting from agency staff to directly employed staff, however reluctantly, does the money just go towards deficit remediation, as I suspect?