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

Let us be honest that more of the same will not work because it is not working. The Minister is offering nurses a permanent contract in a health service that has become an unattractive place to work. I am sure the INMO members told him that at their conference - in fact, I am certain they told him that. I acknowledge the damage caused by the recruitment moratorium introduced by Fianna Fáil in the health service two years ahead of everywhere else. I campaigned against it at the time. We warned about the impact but notwithstanding that we need to face the fact that in my area, in community health organisation, CHO, 9, the nursing numbers are down by 175 since 2007. That is in the area with the fastest growing population in this State. If we are to see the shift to primary care and if it is to become a reality we will need to see an absolute increase in the numbers and we are not seeing that increase. We are not seeing a year-on-year increase in anything like the numbers we will need. It calls into question the Government's commitment to the Sláintecare report because the staff will not be there to effect the necessary change.

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