Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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No problem. The increase in cash terms is €7.4 billion. That is a very significant increase in the funding that was made available to our health services over a number of years, and it was made available to them because they need that. If we look at where matters stand in terms of healthcare staff and the number of people who work there, we now have 22,000 more people working in our health services than we had in recent years. I know the allegation that is sometimes made about it being managerial staff or those who are working in administration, although, God knows, they are also needed. It is not that; it is 6,700 more nurses and doctors, 3,100 more healthcare professionals and 2,500 more doctors and dentists. We have built over 1,000 more hospital beds and increased our ICU capacity by a quarter. To take where we are now versus where we were during the previous Government, when I was also Minister with responsibility for public expenditure, there has been a shift change in our recruitment success in the health service and in its capacity, and the funding story for health is very different.