Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

According to yourself, staffing is safe and sufficient. Why then are people waiting for care? How is it then that cardiac rehabilitation equipment lies idle? How is that can cancer patients are left waiting for treatment - 120 per day, it is reckoned by SIPTU - due to a lack of radiation therapists? How is it that you cannot walk the length of yourself anywhere without meeting people who are frantic with worry waiting because of staffing shortages?

The Taoiseach quoted his budgetary figures there. It is not only a question of the money; it is how it is spent. Notably, the Taoiseach did not address the core of my question, which is a runaway train on agency spending, which is inefficient and which means the permanent need within the system is never properly addressed, even though it is more cost-effective to take on permanent staff. When you take to your feet, Taoiseach, defend for us, if you can, how it is that €650 million is the figure on agency spend, and agency temporary staff are hired instead of permanent staff, even though that is a more cost-effective option.

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