David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is the first time the Minister, or anyone in Government, has accepted that this pause, or what many would call an embargo, is, as he puts it, causing real pressures in hospitals. Every time we have raised this until now, we have received a completely different response, which is to say there is nothing to see here and it is not having an impact. I raised these precise issues in recent months. Indeed, when the freeze was first put in place, I contacted hospital managers and chief officers across the State to get a better understanding from them. They told me the pressures this was putting on them and the tough decisions they are making, including in my local hospital in Waterford, about keeping wards open. One the one hand, they are being told to rein in agency spend, while on the other they cannot replace or hire staff. What the Minister said on the budget parameters for this year does not make sense given that we know the health service was not properly funded. The Minister said there was increased demand. That demand has to be met. We cannot turn away patients. That is the reason hospitals and healthcare organisations are recruiting staff. We need them to treat patients. We are now in a situation where it will be possible to recruit only one third of the staff we were able to recruit annually in each of past three years. That will have an impact on patient care.

See this speech in context