Health service can’t continue to ‘hire without approval’, Taoiseach tells Dáil

The health service “can’t just hire without approval” and the practice has to change, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.

Mr Varadkar told the Dáil on Wednesday that the health budget has always been a challenge, which was not something unique to Ireland.

“It has always been a challenge. Long before I was a TD, the health budget was a challenge for governments. No matter how much is allocated, there will always be calls for more,” he said.

The Taoiseach was responding to Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald during Leaders’ Questions, who said it was now “widely accepted” that the Government had underfunded the health service in Budget 2024.

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Ms McDonald said there needed to be “clarity now as to who made this decision”. “Whose bright idea was this,” she asked Mr Varadkar.

The Dublin Central TD said the consequences of underfunding the health service would be continuing crisis, chronic waiting lists and overcrowding.

“Your decision will have a real impact on families who face some of the biggest challenges of their lives, families that need Government to fund major improvement in the health service,” she said.

“But instead, you choose to make things even worse.”

Mr Varadkar said the Budget was a Cabinet decision and there was collective responsibility. He said every minster around the table looked for more in the budget package, including the Taoiseach and his department, which was always the case.

“People make a bid for a large amount of money, and they only get a fraction of what they ask for. That is how budgets are done,” he said.

The Fine Gael leader said there was no ban on recruitment in the HSE and they could increase its total number of staff by 2,000 next year.

“I don’t want to see when we allocate money for therapists, for psychologists, for consultants, I don’t want to see that money being diverted to hiring extra managers, extra administrators, on doctors that are underqualified, and that has to stop,” he added.