Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I have a question on another area. There was an announcement in July of this year that the recruitment embargo had been lifted in the health service. I did not know at the time but have been informed by workers in my local hospital, St. Michael’s, and subsequently by the National Rehabilitation Hospital people when I went to the opening of the new wing there, and it has been confirmed to me today by the INMO, that while the public announcement of the lifting of the embargo was made, something else had been introduced in June - the pay and numbers strategy. I understand the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform was central to the introduction of what is an embargo by a different name on recruitment to the health service. I would like the Minister to tell us if that is the case and what it means. What I am being told in my local hospital and local health services is that people on maternity leave and sick leave are not being covered and posts that had not been filled back in December 2023 are now gone, which includes a public health nurse in our area telling me that 11 public health nurse posts disappeared because of this strategy. The workers in my hospital are completely demoralised. There are not enough physios, people working in catering or nurses. They are saying that whole areas of the hospital are not safe and that is also what the INMO is now saying, but nothing can be done because of this pay and numbers strategy, which is an embargo by another name. Is that the case and what role has the Department had in this?