Results 44,161-44,180 of 46,575 for speaker:Simon Harris
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: She does not need any help. Deputy McDonald is right that there is an importance to the whole issue of safe staffing and the safe staffing framework. Indeed, I would have worked on this when I was in the Department of Health. The Minister, Deputy Donnelly, has done huge work on this. I am pleased to tell the House and, more importantly, people watching at home that the safe nursing...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: I will get you a figure for Kerry but that has gone up, too, Deputy.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: Let me tell the Deputy this, because it is too important to shout and interrupt here. In terms of waiting times, it means that we are seeing waiting times fall. They are not falling in the North, they are not falling in the UK, they are not falling in most of Europe but they are falling here in Ireland. Wait times for outpatient services have reduced from 13.2 months in July 2021 to seven...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: Says you.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: It is simply not true to say we are not hiring permanent staff.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: I just went through in quite a lot of detail the fact that there are 27,901 more people working in the Irish public health service now than when this Government came into office.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: With the cacophony of noise it is hard to concentrate. Including in respect of the Deputy's own local hospital, the Mater Hospital, I went through the material difference that has made in terms of hundreds of additional nurses working on the ground, thousands of extra doctors, thousands of extra healthcare professionals. The Deputy can say all that and she can acknowledge that to be true,...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: In relation to agency, I guarantee you if the Minister for Health said tomorrow that we are not doing any more agency, despite all this recruitment, your Deputies would be writing to me saying "what about this?" and "what about that?".
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: There is always a need for flexibility and agility when it is hard to fill posts. We are recruiting record levels, more than ever. We have set a target of a two-thirds reduction in agency staff in 2025. The Deputy made a very important point that I ant to deal with directly about radiation therapists and cancer treatment. This is a real issue and I thank her for raising it. There are...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle. I thank Deputy Bacik who is clearly raising an important issue here----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: ---- which deserves to be treated with the seriousness with which the question is asked. Of course education is a vitally important issue. The Deputy is right to highlight that there are some challenges and pinch points in respect of recruitment that I want to deal with directly. We need to remind ourselves again that the vast majority of allocated teaching posts are of course filled....
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: Very shortly we are probably going to ask the people of Ireland to elect a citizens' assembly called the Dáil. I do not want to mislead the Deputy or the House on that. It is unlikely that there will be any further citizens' assemblies proposed by this Government. I would like to say on the record of the House that I do see merit in a citizens' assembly on education. We have had...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: Come on.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: They are not.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: We will not scrap the pay and numbers strategy because that is how you run the country. You run Government Departments and public services by providing a budget that is voted through this House. That budget then translates into a number of positions in any public service agency and then the agency or the Minister responsible ensures those positions are filled. If it is the position of the...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: Excuse me, sorry.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: I thank the Ceann Comhairle. We do not need to use language in this House about "deceiving" and "gaslighting". I have facts, which I have outlined. The Deputy can tell me-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: The Deputy can wave his sheet of paper, but-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: The Deputy will get another chance in a minute, so it would be appreciated if he could give me a little opportunity to respond. Does he accept that 9,375 additional nurses and midwives are now working in the health service compared with 2020, that there are 4,092 health and social care professionals additional to 2020 or that there are an additional 3,330 doctors and dentists? Those are...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Oct 2024)
Simon Harris: I am kind of baffled by the fact the Deputy thinks it is breaking news - hold the front page - that organisations are given a budget and can employ people within that budget. The budget we have given for the health service allows it to hire 7,500 more people between the end of this year and the end of next year. Last year saw the highest number of staff ever recruited in the history of the...