Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

This matter will be addressed in this House later this evening during the Adjournment debate. The facts I have just outlined are in line with the information I have received from the Health Service Executive. I would like to put the freeze in HSE recruitment in context. There are 12.2 nurses per 1,000 people in Ireland. The OECD average is nine per 1,000. The corresponding figure in France is seven per 1,000. If we are to honour the agreement we reached with the nurses during the dispute, we will have to remove 2.9 million nursing hours from the public health care system between now and June 2008. We agreed to introduce a 37.5 hour week on a cost-neutral basis without any diminution of services to patients, which will be a huge challenge. If the system cannot deal with the challenges it faces this September, I do not know how it will be able to deal with the challenge of removing 2.9 million hours on a cost-neutral basis without any diminution of services to patients.

We have to consider how we can do things better. It is not always a question of more money and more staff. We are lucky that the success of the Irish economy over the past decade has allowed us to make substantial investments in the health care system. The current rate of increase — between 11% and 12% — will not be sustained in the years to come. I emphasise that I am talking about the rate of increase — I have heard commentators saying there will be no increase next year, which is not the case. One needs to increase the bill every year if one is to pay existing staff. Changing the way we do business is as important as making new investments because the economy will not be able to sustain increases at the current rate.

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