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

It is like déjà vuall over again. The Minister's predecessor when Fianna Fáil was in government did not call it an embargo either, but we all know that is what it was. I am little shocked. The Minister will state that he pays hospital managers very well, but they simply have not bothered to submit a plan. They are his words, not mine. He is happy that there are people at a very high level in the health service, earning very high wages, who are not bothered to do parts of their job. That is wholly unsatisfactory. We are spending €300 million per annum on agency staff, so staff are still coming in but via the most precarious and expensive route. They are not being employed permanently. Nobody is suggesting that there is no need to have sensible and controlled budgets. However, the budget that is out of control is that relating to agency staff. Clearly, these staff are needed. The managers who cannot be bothered to do some parts of their jobs, as the Minister indicated, are hiring staff and doing it in an ineffective and expensive way. The Minister must make a decision at some point. Will services be cut back? Will he be honest and tell people the services that will have to be cut or will we be in a position to offer people full-time, permanent jobs when there are full-time permanent vacancies being filled by expensive agency staff?

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