Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Any time I have gone to hospital, the first person to help has been a clerical or administrative worker. Anyone who knows how hospitals work knows their contribution is vital and that the system would collapse in a matter of hours without them. The Government has decided to pick a fight with those workers by freezing recruitment. The Government has called it a "pause" but that is playing with words. It is a recruitment freeze. Vacancies across the country will go unfilled. Stressed-out workers will be put under even more pressure to cover work that is not theirs. I am glad these workers are standing up for themselves and protesting at hospital gates again today. As we speak, workers at Cork University Hospital are lining the pavement and holding their placards aloft. I have no doubt there will be a lot of noise in Wilton as people honk their car horns in support. The public know these workers are fighting not just for themselves but for the public's health service. End the recruitment freeze now.

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