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

The Deputy is, of course, correct on one point - there will be a further substantial increase in funding for health service and the HSE in the forthcoming budget. We are already spending record amounts of money on health services and will break a new record in the provision of funding and resourcess again next year. The important point, the thing that can be very difficult to do, is ensuring the money gets to the patient. It is worth reading if the Deputy has not yet had the chance to do so, but the report of the Public Sector Pay Commission on nursing and nurse recruitment shows how some of the money has definitely got to the patient because the number of nurses working in the health service has increased every year for four years. We have 1,000 more nurses than we had last year. As is the case across the economy, as a result of full employment and because of the enormous demand for additional staff, there are vacancies too.

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