Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I wish to clarify those figures. The Minister said 4,000 out of the 6,221 staff on fixed term or specified purpose contracts are in training. Taking out those involved in training, how many of the remaining staff on temporary or specified purpose contracts are agency staff? What amount of money is spent on agency staff and what proportion of the money goes on agency fees, which is a complete waste from the point of view of the health service? Figures recently emerged to suggest that agency doctors can cost hospitals up to €1,000 a day and up to €300,000 a year, a portion of which is taken by the agencies in question, which speaks strongly against the notion that using temporary staff is a cost-saving measure for the State.

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