John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is fine. I thank the Cathaoirleach. I am in the cohort who received the single-dose Janssen vaccine, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.I welcome the Minister. He spoke about Ireland being the country in Europe with the fifth lowest mortality rate in respect of Covid. That is phenomenal and it is due to our high vaccination rate. He noted 42 additional ICU beds have opened this year. HSE recruitment, which he mentioned, has been sorely lagging, that is, there is a time lag between when the hiring process begins and the person takes up the post. He stated we have taken on more than 3,000 nurses and 2,000 health and social care professionals but can anything be done to shorten the timeline for recruitment within the HSE in order that we will see the impact of this budget on the ground?