James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State, Deputy White, has already met the various organisations. We expect to hear a lot of noise from that section until the new contract is in place, but let us deal with the facts. There are more than 200 additional GPs in the service than when Deputy Kelleher was in government. He alluded to overcrowding in our hospitals. Coming towards the end of his term in government, there were 569 people on trolleys in a single day. We have reduced that number by 34% over 2012 and 2013. This year so far, we are already over 3% lower than last year. That is still too many and I want to see it improved.

It is important to have the facts out here. There are more consultants and GPs in the service than there were three years ago and we recruited over 700 nurses last year. The people who work in our health service face serious challenge and pressure but they are doing that magnificently and I congratulate them on the great improvements they have made.

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