Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Adequate staffing levels are a given; I do not think it should have to be stated. The Deputy may be interested in some of the facts. We have more consultants than ever before and if we can achieve agreement with the IMO on the new consultant scales we will be able to regularise and advertise for quite a number of posts in the next couple of weeks, although, inevitably, such posts will take a few months to fill. We have significantly more midwives than previously, with an increase in numbers, from 900 or so, a few years ago, to close to 1,500 now. This increase is along with a falling birth rate in recent years. In the past year the number of nurses employed by the HSE increased by 500. It is true that the number has reduced by 4,500 from a number of years ago but I refer the Deputy to the extra hour worked by nurses, the graduate nursing programme and the extra 500 nurses employed last year. We are starting to go in the right direction again. Approximately 32,000 to 34,000 nurses are in the system while 1,000 retirements is equivalent to 3% of the workforce. It is not unusual to have a 3% turnover in a workforce in any given year. In the most recent recruitment campaign by the HSE more than 4,000 nurses applied for positions. However, we are not complacent - I note the particular issue in mental health care as the Deputy mentioned - and active workforce planning will be necessary.

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