Desperate need for permanent healthcare staff - McDonald

Hospitals cannot hire the frontline staff they need due to ongoing restrictions on recruitment, the Dáil has heard.

Sinn Féin Leader Mary Lou McDonald said that there is a desperate need for permanent staff, but instead the spending on agency staff has risen from €350 million in 2019 to €650 million in 2023.

Speaking during Leader Questions, she described this spending as a runaway train, adding that it is effectively prolonging the crisis in the health service.

Ms McDonald said there was a health crisis when the Government came into office and there is still a health crisis as they are leaving office.

The Taoiseach said that the amount of money set aside for health next year is €25.8 billion which is a 43% increase since 2020.

Simon Harris said there are now nearly 28,000 more people working in the health service compared to five years ago, adding that waiting times are falling.

Mr Harris said the largest ever staff intake into the HSE took place last year.

"I accept that wait times are too long, but we are driving them down," he said.

People Before Profit's Richard Boyd Barrett said he believed the Government was trying to deceive people, saying it claimed to be hiring more healthcare staff to deal with waiting lists, but it was actually maintaining the recruitment embargo.

"You’re gaslighting the public about this, you absolutely are," he said.

Mr Boyd Barrett said the Government committed to hiring the staff needed in St Michael’s Hospital, but that the hospital was only advertising for two new staff.

"It’s very simple for me, do I believe the Government or the INMO, who are balloting for industrial action? I believe the health workers, I don’t believe you," he said.

The Taoiseach said the health budget was voted through the Dáil and that had to apply to the health service.

"There is an issue ... and you’re right to highlight it, there is a real issue when it comes to radiation therapy," Mr Harris said, adding there "are real challenges" in that area.

He said that vacant posts remain which are funded, but had yet to be filled.

The Taoiseach accused Mr Boyd Barrett of not acknowledging that waiting lists were climbing across Europe.

Mr Harris said waiting lists and times had fallen for two years in a row in Ireland.

"Baffling people with figures that are out of context, doesn’t tell you the real truth," Mr Boyd Barrett said.

He quoted hospital consultants who said the waiting lists would increase by 11% this year.

'Teacher shortage crisis'

The Labour leader, Ivana Bacik, has accused the Government of "taking teachers for granted" with the teacher-pupil ratio still one of the highest in the EU.

The Dublin Bay South TD demanded the Coalition address what she termed "the teacher shortage crisis" which is having "seriously negative knock on effects" on pupils and their families.

She quoted the teachers union, the INTO, that said nearly 1,000 teaching posts are currently vacant in primary schools.

Ms Bacik said that half of schools in the commuter belt are now oversubscribed.

The Labour leader said children with additional needs are being forced to travel to special schools which sometimes resemble containment facilities rather than education centres.

In reply, the Taoiseach rejected the charge that the Government was taking teachers for granted, saying there are more teachers now than ever before in the history of the State.

He said that while he recognises there are "challenges and pinch points" regarding recruitment, the fact is that the pupil-teacher ratio is that lowest it has ever been.

Mr Harris said the Government has been working "really hard" to expand school capacity, with €4.5 billion spent on schools and 800 school projects completed.

He added that special needs education has received the largest budget ever.

Aontú leader Peadar Toibín raised the case of Kyran Durnin, describing it as "tragic and dark".

On 30 August this year, a missing person's report was filed at Drogheda Garda Station in relation to Kyran.

Gardaí were told he was last seen in the town two days earlier, but during the course of their inquiry, information came to light that led detectives to suspect that Kyran had been missing for more than two days.

The Aontú leader asked how a vulnerable child could disappear for two years and questioned how broken the State care system is.

He said Kyran is just one of 227 children who have died in State care.

Mr Toibín gave examples of young people who have died.

He said 40 died due to suicide, eight due to overdoses, 16 due to road traffic incidents and 18 due to other accidents.

He also mentioned several examples of young people who were let down by the CAMHs system.

Responding to Mr Toibín, the Taoiseach said there is not a person in the Dáil who is not totally horrified and heartbroken at what is emerging in relation to Kyran’s case.

Mr Harris said the saddest and most painful thing is that nobody asked why or where Kyran was during the two years that he is missing.

He said that it is "deeply upsetting" to think that this could happen to any child and there is an absolute need "to get to the bottom of this".

He echoed the appeal of An Garda Síochana for members of the public with information to come forward.

Mr Harris also said that Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman asked Tusla to send this case to The National Review Panel, whose responsibility is to examine deaths of any child with links to the caring structure of the State.

Additional reporting Joe Mag Raollaigh, Juliette Gash, Paul Cunningham