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

The recruitment and retention of healthcare workers is a real problem. We now have a huge budget for our health service. It was €14 billion when I was the Minister for Health and is €22 billion now. There is no lack of money or political will when it comes to improving our health services but there are other restraints, one of which is the ability to train, recruit and retain an adequate number of healthcare staff. This is by no means unique to Ireland; it is an international phenomenon. It is a global labour market. Why are the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US and the United Arab Emirates taking in healthcare workers from around the world? It is because they are short too and the people they train also go abroad. We all face the same problem. It is a tough battle but one we are winning. I say that because there are nearly 20,000 more staff in our health service than there were two and a half years ago, including nearly 6,000 more nurses and midwives and nearly 2,000 more doctors and dentists.

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