Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank all Senators for their contributions, passionate and otherwise. Most people in this House speak with passion and conviction and believe what they say. I listened with great interest to the views of all Senators. I thank Senator Mooney for his kind comments. It is interesting that sometimes the Fianna Fáil position is that everything we have done is wrong and awful and sometimes it is that we are only following what Fianna Fáil prescribed for us. I would be happy to debate that and no doubt in coming months, we will have a chance to do that with some interest.

Senator Mooney mentioned the front line as if only 70 nurses were recruited. In the past 12 months, as Senator Hayden said, there have been 4,000 new employees in the Health Service Executive, HSE, alone. Just over half of them are medical personnel, including 750 additional nurses, doctors and ancillary and support staff. We now have the highest number of doctors in the hospital system that we have ever had. We are still trying to recruit not only in the acute health system but in all other branches of nursing.

On the Garda pay issue-----