Ms Louise McGirr:

We agree that agency spending is too high. There are targets to bring it down. The conversion that Mr. Gloster mentioned is one of the key ways. We have invested more than €50 million in safe staffing and nursing to reduce the agency cost of nursing in hospitals. The consultants’ contract, which is in the evenings and daytime, is there to reduce reliance on bringing people in outside the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule. In recent years, we have increased the workforce on the health side by just under 28,000, never mind the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth side. These are all measures that should reduce agency spending. We agree that there is an excessive reliance on agency staffing. This is the focus of the task force. There is no-----