Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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There is a great deal of inaccurate information being thrown around on all sides. I am not saying it is inaccurate, but confusing information and claims being made from all sides in respect of this. I would not say for a moment that hospitals should be allowed to recruit as many staff; that would be ridiculous. They were allowed to do that in the past and there were serious problems as a result. I fully support an approach that is about getting better value for money and achieving efficiencies. However, there is another factor that comes into play here in respect of nurses and midwives, which is the safe staffing levels. The figures the Minister has set out do not account fully for the agreed safe staffing levels of 1:4. There are a number of points here that need to be made. The INMO was at the WRC and there was an acceptance by the WRC that the way the numbers were calculated did not reflect the reduced working hours. My understanding is that people are still waiting for the HSE or the Department to come back with the recalibrated numbers. What is the Minister's position on that and when can we expect to see those figures?