Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is continuous engagement between our Department, the Department of Health and the HSE with regard to workforce planning and our burgeoning population in view of the fact that the economy has been completely revived since 2011. I know the Deputy and her party like to create the impression that everybody is leaving the country, but the reality is that they are not. We have a growing population with growing needs. People are living longer and older, which is a great thing. We know, as a Government, that we will need more disciplines across a wide area of the public sector. We know and appreciate that, and we work within budgetary constraints. The attempt the Deputy is trying to make to turn this into some sort of an internal Government Punch-and-Judy thing could not be further from the truth. As already stated, I read out the numbers for nursing and medicine, about which the Deputy asked, particularly in an all-island context, which is something, I presume, the Deputy would welcome. As the Taoiseach has said in this Chamber, it is the Government's intention to increase the number of places in all disciplines, including dentistry and speech and language therapy.

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