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

I agree with the Deputy on one point, namely, that providing home help is the right thing to do, which is why the Government has increased funding for home help by 50% in the past three or four years. On the occasion to which the Deputy referred, I was responding to an argument I often hear made, namely, that not funding home help is some sort of false economy because it then leads to higher costs up the line through longer hospital admissions and so on. Unfortunately, while that seems logical on the face of it, it never seems to stack up when looking at the finances. I agree home help is the right thing to do, but it does not save hospitals money. That is unproven at the least. The point I was making is that some people say it is a false economy but it is not.

On recruiting consultants, the Government absolutely acknowledges the enormous difficulties and challenges we face. Notwithstanding that, the number of consultants in the health service is at an all-time high, as is the number of doctors. This year, for example, 10,500 doctors and dentists work in the health service, whereas ten years ago, there were only 8,000 and three years ago, there were 9,300. Many new posts are being created all the time and there is difficulty filling them. The figures change and vary from area to area. There are many vacancies in psychiatry, for example, but one will often meet registrars or young doctors waiting for a post in their specialty to be advertised because there is none. There is variation across the specialties and regions. Unfortunately, more peripheral hospitals are often not able to recruit consultants, whereas those attached to universities in the cities receive many applications, which we need to be realistic and honest with people about.

I am not sure where the figure of 500 posts comes from. When the Public Service Pay Commission examined the issue, it was not able to verify the claims of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association or the Irish Medical Organisation, or even the HSE's numbers in that regard. Many of the posts that are described as vacant are not. They are filled with locums or temps or, in some cases, they are in recruitment.

We acknowledge that this is a difficult issue but it is one that we will have to manage. We will do so in consultation with the representative bodies and the HSE.

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