That needs to be looked into.

I agree totally.

Not unexpectedly, the Taoiseach did not answer the question. Will 10,000 people be recruited? Are the officials telling the truth in flowery language, for want of a better phrase? These are political targets. Is the Government going to meet them or not?

They are targets that are given out to people as answers. In fairness, we can only take the information that is given to us. In the Taoiseach's constituency at Cork University Hospital today, dangerous levels of overcrowding exist. I have spoken about the situation in University Hospital Limerick on more occasions in the House than I have spoken about any other matter. That situation still obtains today. There are 532 people on trolleys in our hospitals, over 720 vacant consultant posts and 4,500 funded positions t…

What is the Taoiseach going to do to ensure we get the consultant and health professional posts filled-----

-----and the GPs into the system, as per the statistics he has given to many of us in this House and which he has committed to doing?

The Taoiseach gives the answers.

So the Taoiseach is not giving the figures.

Rubbish.

Is the Taoiseach saying he is not in charge?

How many posts will be filled?

You did not.

There is not.

A couple of weeks ago the Taoiseach agreed with me here that the mid-west needed an elective hospital given the massive overcrowding and that University Hospital Limerick, UHL, is simply too small. There are reports in the media that UL Hospitals Group, along with a number of others, has worked with a private organisation, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, UPMC, on building an elective hospital in the mid-west. Is this Government policy? Does the Taoiseach believe it should go ahead like that or, given w…

The Taoiseach’s predecessor, the current Tánaiste, set up a Cabinet subcommittee on national security, but the Taoiseach got rid of it. Why did he get rid of it? Recent events have shown us the real and serious concerns we have as a nation in modern times about security in all its facets. I say, “Well done” to Patrick Murphy and all his colleagues in west Cork for what they have achieved over the last number of weeks. However, we cannot outsource our security, whether that is online, offline, on land or on sea. We …

You did. It does not exist anymore.

That is just a fact.

It existed as part of the previous Government and does not exist in this one. That is just a fact.

A public health reform expert advisory group has been set up by the Minister. It has 30 members and is chaired by Professor Hugh Brady, a former president of UCD. Will there be any formal review by the Government and has any model been decided on? During Covid - we are still in Covid but during the really bad times - we had to make certain allowances in relation to hospitals. I want to raise the issue of University Hospital Limerick, UHL. Colleagues across politics have raised this matter. UHL is my local hospital.…

Home Building Finance Ireland was set up to provide finance to private developers at market rates for commercially viable housing developments. I would appreciate it if the Taoiseach would look into what I am about to raise with him. There is a small development funding product for developments under ten units through this organisation. However, while it will fund projects of between five and nine residential units, the rules limit access. The size of the loan must be from €1 million to include land purchase up to …