Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One cannot describe a situation where we will hire 2,000 additional staff this year as a recruitment embargo. An embargo suggests that we are not hiring any more people. In other words, that we are stopping recruitment. We are not doing that; we are going to hire 2,000 more people. However, what we are expecting hospital groups and CHOs to do is something that every other public service agency, every Department and certainly every other business and private sector employer does, which is live within their budget. The House votes on the budget and debates and passes the service plan. When it leaves this House it must be delivered across the country. We are offering full-time jobs. At the INMO conference last week, I was able to offer, for a third year, every graduate nurse in the country a full-time, permanent job in the health services. That will help, with the new conditions, to reduce the number of agency staff. That is what happens over time. We were unable to do that when I was appointed Minister, but we have been able to do it now.

The measures that have been put in place by the HSE, which I believe are sensible, will end at the end of next month. It is an important period if we are to ensure we have more resources to spend on the delivery of more public services this year, which we all want.

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