Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I have repeatedly raised the recruitment embargo by another name that the Government has imposed on the health service, the so-called pay and numbers strategy, which is limiting the ability of hospitals and health services to recruit the staff they need to ensure safe staffing and proper patient safety in the hospitals. The Taoiseach is aware health workers are balloting for industrial action because of the Government's failure to address this.

On foot of me raising it in here, the Ireland East Hospital Group acknowledged at the end of September that there were, in fact, 21 vacant posts in my local hospital, St. Michael's Hospital. It said, presumably on foot of the fact that we raised the matter in here, wrote to it and put in parliamentary questions, that it was were to commence the recruitment to fill those 21 vacant posts in the hospital. I checked with the workers in the hospital, who were delighted to hear that news, in the past number of days. I asked them whether there was any sigh of the new recruits and they said, "Not a dicky bird." There has been no advertising for these 21 posts and no sign of new staff.

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