Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is true and they will not fill the vacancies.

We can go through all of the policy areas on the future of work but if we do not have enough staff to run our hospitals and keep them open at weekends, I do not know what we are thinking about. We are obfuscating policy for practical application. It was the most unperceptive remark on people who are meant to be running this country. The queues for beds are enough reason to reflect on this. Are we not listening to the people who are waiting for all kinds of medical checks?

Health and education are the most important departments and if we cannot get them right, nothing else will be right, so I would like for the Minister for Health to come in and explain to me what is going on and how he will fix it. He should bring in staff and not have our doctors who are paid for by the taxpayer running out of the country, followed by our nurses who are not able to come back to the country because they are not paid properly and have nowhere to live. It is an outrage.