Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for flagging this issue to me in advance so I could get additional information for this very short window I have to reply to him. He is right to highlight the gaps and the 277 posts that are funded but have not yet been recruited for. It is not through lack of trying. We have increased our numbers in the healthcare system very considerably but we have the funding and wish to do more. A very significant capital programme is going into this hospital, as the Deputy is aware, including the CT upgrade, the dolmen wing, the 86-bed accommodation block, a better outpatient department, the acute floor extension, and ancillary services such as the car park. He is quite right to raise the investment needed in this very good hospital. I will continue to work on it but we struggle to recruit, even though we have these funded positions.

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