David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In many elements of healthcare at the moment there is a real crisis in recruiting staff. The Tánaiste will be aware that there are millions of home help hours that cannot be provided because we cannot recruit the staff. There are some 700 vacant posts in network teams supporting children with disabilities. Yesterday I met with the Irish Pharmacy Union and there is a real crisis in recruiting community pharmacists. A range of solutions are needed. Partly it is to do with terms and conditions of employment, but many of the organisations that represent patients and workers in these areas advocate that we look at including some of those professions on the critical skills list. Is this something the Tánaiste would consider? I am not suggesting this as an alternative or substitution for measures to deal with the recruitment and retention issues, but given this crisis where children with disabilities are going without hundreds of thousands of hours of therapy between them because we cannot fill posts, as with home helps, pharmacists and many more, is this something the Tánaiste would look at as part of the solution?

See this speech in context