Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the response. I have two questions on the response and then I will conclude with a few other remarks. The Minister of State said the HSE has identified a minimum recruitment target of 5,500 whole-time equivalents alongside a more challenging stretch target. What is a stretch target? What does that mean? Is the Minister of State telling me that the 5,500 are to keep things running as they are now, which is chaotic at times? We are all familiar with emergency departments over the last couple of weeks, particularly in certain regional hospitals. I would love to know what the definition of "stretch target" is. How do we get from 5,500 to 11,000? Is somewhere in the middle, at 6,000, 7,000 or 8,000 a success? Can the Minister of State provide clarity on that?

The Minister of State said the HSE is reviewing international recruitment to specialist posts such as nursing and midwifery, with further actions identified to expedite recruitment. Will the Minister of State outline those further actions? I would love to know what actions are being taken. Are we going to roadshows across the world? Are we attending exhibitions? Are we at universities? What specific actions are being referred to?

To conclude more generally, the majority of us here hold weekly clinics. I am Fianna Fáil's party spokesperson on special education. It is well documented that people have been waiting for a physiotherapy appointment with a children's disability network team. People may be waiting two, three or four years, if they are lucky, for a speech and language therapist to come to see them. In my opening statement, I acknowledged that the HSE is hiring more staff than ever, but it is clearly not sufficient. Nothing drives me more demented than to see budget underspends and funding not being drawn down. We need to do more. We need to engage internationally and to look at waiving work visas for non-EU applicants. We need to throw the kitchen sink at it. I would appreciate any further feedback.

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