Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-10-01
============================================================

Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The word "front-line" is very important here. As the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, in working closely with Minister, Deputy Chambers, prepares for the health budget 2027, we need to make sure we grow our front-line health professionals. The Deputy makes a valid point about the people going through our own universities and colleges who want to be able to work here and are actively looking to do so. They need to be met with an open door; we need them. Therefore, we need to make sure the HSE is prioritising the recruitment of front-line staff. Having seen some very large increases in staffing in the HSE recently, I am not sure it is fair to say most of them have been in the front-line. There is a real need to focus on that.
We have a growing and ageing population, so we need to make sure we have jobs for these young graduates. I know the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, is conscious of this and is preparing as part of the health budget for the months and year ahead. I will ask the Minister to come back to the Deputy when she has clarity on that.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-10-01/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:01:00+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-10-01