Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would be interested to know how many of those are nurses who we had to go abroad to recruit at significant expense when, in fact, our own graduates have no interest in staying in this country, as the Minister well knows. Brexit, in this regard, may be the Minister's friend. We understand that a lot of nurses who may have chosen to go to England may be forced to remain here.

When the Minister referred to the conversion of agency staff into directly employed staff, that does not add any extra bodies although it represents a saving to the taxpayer. With regard to the projected figures, I understand that 1,200 was the target by the end of the year. Is the Minister confident he will meet that target? I refer to the 1,200 additional nurses, not necessarily 1,200 recruits, because we must consider the retention as well.

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