David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The witnesses are very welcome and I thank them for their opening statement. I ask them to clear up some confusion in this area. Anyone listening to this discussion in recent months will have seen a lot of smoke and mirrors. On the one hand, the Minister for Health has been telling us we have never had it so good with all of this recruitment that we have seen over the last number of years, including this year. On the other hand, we have the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation talking about suppressed nursing posts, SIPTU last week talking about radiation therapists posts where there are vacancies and equipment lying idle, and the witnesses talking today about suppressed posts and a recruitment embargo by another name, the pay and numbers strategy. Earlier, we heard from the Irish Cardiac Society about vacant posts. A number of months ago, the Irish Cancer Society was here and also talked about vacant posts. It seems all of these organisations have one view and the Minister for Health has a different view.

On the important issue of suppressed posts, my understanding is that on 31 December 2023, all vacant posts were essentially scrapped or at least the vast majority of them were, as there may have been some exceptions. Is that the case? Do the witnesses have an estimate of the number of those posts and the impact that had in their area in terms of staff represented by Fórsa? As the Minister has not answered the question, were posts suppressed - vanished, disappeared, gone - on 31 December 2023?