Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the retired nurses from Kerry and thank them for their service in the health service. I will certainly have a word with them in a moment about some of the issues the Deputy has raised. I am not across the detail of that and it does not tally with my information but I will have a word with them in a moment.

When it comes to the health service, I accept of course that it has to live within an allocation and the allocation is larger than it has ever been. It is a hell of a lot larger than when I was Minister for Health. It has now gone from about €16 billion to about €25 billion. The truth also matters. We have funding in place now to hire thousands more people to work in the health service under the leadership of the Minister, Deputy Donnelly. As of September 2024, there were 27,744 more staff working in the health service than there were when this Government of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party came into office. That is a 23% increase. There are 9,185 more nurses and midwives, 4,160 more health and social care professionals and 3,479 more doctors and dentists. I will get the Deputy the figures but I have no doubt that in Kerry hospital this means more staff, nurses and doctors than there were only a few years ago.

I accept we need to continue to grow those numbers to support our front-line health services. That is why we have funding for approximately 7,000 more people between now and the end of this year and next year.

The Deputy mentioned the issue of carers and I am glad he did. The means test is mean, and we need to overhaul and reform it. That is why my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, has a piece of work that will be concluded by the end of the year relating to the means testing of our carers.

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