Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 26 May 2022

Public Accounts Committee

2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health (Resumed)
Health Service Executive: Financial Statements 2020

9:30 am

Mr. Robert Watt:

This is a strategic focus for us. We are trying to address these shortages. It is a function of the pipeline of people who are currently doing training. They will be available in four or five years. It is about our ability to retain people and bring them back. A variety of issues are involved. We need to provide more opportunities, particularly for young people who have completed the leaving certificate, to go into medicine, dentistry and a variety of specialties. The Minister, Deputy Donnelly, is committed to that and he and the Minister, Deputy Harris, are working intensively on that, particularly on initiatives for this September and September 2023.