Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the reply. As she said, she could quite easily be standing where I am today and if she was, I doubt she would be happy with that response. I am conscious that undoubtedly if it was her constituency, she would be very much focused on trying to get the issue sorted. I appreciate where she is coming from. Two problems arise. The first is 16 additional nurses were sought as part of budget 2022 with the decision pending in February for the service plan. It has become the practice that the HSE service plan is published sometimes as far into the year as June or July, which is laughable. No business could do that, certainly not one with €20 billion in resources. One hits the ground running on 1 January and recruits 16 additional nurses, otherwise it is the service plan for 2023 or 2024.

The other problem is the bottom line that we have less than 50% neurology nurses who are required in the country and the same is the case in Sligo even though we have the highest incidence of multiple sclerosis per capita in the country. There is no urgency about this to the effect that we should get this sorted and get these people recruited. If the Minister of State was to adopt the business analogy I used, she would save money because it would cut admissions, free-up otherwise much needed acute beds that are there for other reasons, and eat into the 2,000 on the waiting list, bearing in mind that within the region there are 10,000 with neurological conditions and 800,000 nationally. We need to focus a little better on this issue.

I should have mentioned my constituency colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, who I am sure would agree with this. However, talk is cheap. We could all acknowledge the need and all the rest of it, but where is the recruitment process and the staff? I am sure the Neurological Alliance of Ireland does not want accolades or congratulations. Like the rest of us, its members want to see results.

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