Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I am kind of baffled by the fact the Deputy thinks it is breaking news - hold the front page - that organisations are given a budget and can employ people within that budget. The budget we have given for the health service allows it to hire 7,500 more people between the end of this year and the end of next year. Last year saw the highest number of staff ever recruited in the history of the HSE. It seems that when I quote facts, I am bamboozling people or spinning, but when the Deputy quotes them, they are absolute gospel. Let us actually have an informed debate here-----

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