Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Cullinane for raising the important issue of how we ensure we continue to grow our health service by hiring more nurses and doctors and people to work at the front line. It is important when talking about the health service and recruitment levels that we bring a bit of context and honesty to the discussion. The first thing to say is that as of September, there were 143,075 staff working in the health service, an increase of 5,330 this year to date. Sometimes when you hear Sinn Féin and others, you get the impression that we are contracting or reducing the size of the health service. Some 5,330 more people are working in the health service this year, so far, compared with last year. There are 23,263 more people working in the health service since the beginning of 2020, just before this Government came into office. Included in that are 6,808 more nurses and midwives; 3,388 more health and social care professionals, including therapists; and 2,633 more doctors and dentists. The last three years - 2020, 2021 and 2022 - saw the largest-ever increase in the workforce of the HSE since its foundation. We need a little bit of context. Similarly, in the budget only a month ago, the Minister for Health secured funding to further grow the size of the health service workforce in 2024. He has funding to increase the number of people working in the Irish health service by 2,268 next year as well. Deputy Cullinane is right when he says that on 10 November, the HSE's CEO issued a pause on recruitment. There are a number of exemptions, some of which Deputy Cullinane glossed over, for example in relation to consultants, graduate nurses, midwives and doctors in formal training programmes.

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