Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First of all I must point out to the Deputy that there are 28,000 more people working in our health service than there were at the beginning of 2020. That is a 23% increase. This includes some 9,375 nurses and midwives, 4,000 health and social care professionals and 3,330 additional doctors and dentists. At the moment, we are looking at 129,750 - approximately 130,000 -people now working within the HSE. This is excluding disability services, which have moved over to the Department of children. The budget is in and around €25.8 billion. We need perspective here. The Deputy creates a picture of cuts and pull back but that this does not stack up. The agreement reached by the Minister for public expenditure and the Minister for Health allowed for €1.5 billion in 2024, into the base, and €1.3 billion into the base for 2025. These are huge sums of resources allocated to our health services. That agreement allowed for the regularisation of 2,000 posts, for which the HSE had recruited but up to then had not been funded, and then a further 2,000 posts that were recruited temporarily to support services during the Covid-19 pandemic and which were still in place. The HSE had basically recruited 4,000 staff without funding being provided and that is all sorted now. In addition, provision has been made to recruit a further 4,200 staff in 2024, with 3,310 funded by the Department of Health and 900 by the Department of children. There is no ceiling. There is the provision now whereby decisions can be taken regionally on prioritisation and the allocation of resources. I do not believe it merits industrial action, but certainly engagement and dialogue.

We also have to raise the issue of working on outcomes, reforms and governance. We cannot keep on ignoring that. The resources are exponentially growing within health. We are committed not just to further recruitment, but also doubling the numbers in training in nursing and allied healthcare professions. The Minister for higher education and the Minister for Health have already announced significant funding for the colleges to increase the number of those in training. The argument being put forward by the Deputy is that the recruitment ceiling is a freeze by another name.

That could not be further from the truth. The health service has been funded to expand its numbers, both this year and next year. Funding has been allocated to enable that to happen.

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