Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I am glad he is present because he is an extremely sensible individual and will appreciate what I am going to say. This country cannot manage without the requisite number of people - regardless of whether it is a street cleaner who works for the local authority, a nurse who works in a hospital or a garda who pounds his or her beat - required to deliver front line services. We need the people to whom I refer in order to keep the country going.

I appreciate the constraints that apply and I am not criticising the Minister of State because I understand the adverse position in which we currently find ourselves. However, large numbers of people cannot continue to retire from the public service and draw down their pensions because there will be no one left to provide services. People must go to work every day and fulfil the different roles to which I referred earlier. I appreciate that the Government is not applying a blanket embargo on recruitment. It must be recognised, however, that fewer services are available than was the case in the past. People are continually being lost from the public service. If a council employee who works in a small village either dies or retires, he will not be replaced. This is having an affect throughout the country.

I am aware that the Minister of State was obliged to deliver a standard reply in respect of this matter. He knows what I am saying is sensible and factual. We will still need staff to run this country and to provide the necessary services. We cannot remain in the present mode where staff are either retiring or, unfortunately, dying and nobody is replacing them. A country cannot function that way. The Minister of State knows I am right.

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