Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the announcements made in Cork on Friday. A €50-million development was begun, with the foundations being laid. The interesting thing is that it involves 175,000 square feet of office space and that even before the foundations were laid, 60% of this office space had been taken up and will be occupied within the next 16 months once it is completed.

It is of concern to see that today's edition of The Irish Timesreferred to a cost of €326 million for employing agency staff in the HSE. The vast bulk of that money goes towards nursing staff and medical doctors. It is wrong we have allowed this to happen. Over the past three years, I warned against the way we have been offering contracts in the HSE but little or nothing has been done by the executive. The six-month roll-out of contracts continues. It will start again on 7 January 2015 and there will be more problems with filling vacancies. Last week, a consultant informed me that last year there were 11 junior doctors in a particular specialty in a hospital but that this year there will only be three. It is time we started examining this issue. Three reports have been published on it over the past 12 months but there is not one shred of evidence that any of their recommendations have been or will be implemented by the HSE. A serious debate on what will be offered as terms of employment for those working in the health services in two, three and five years’ time is long overdue. Will the Leader ensure it will be held at the earliest possible date?