Any time I have gone to hospital, the first person to help has been a clerical or administrative worker. Anyone who knows how hospitals work knows their contribution is vital and that the system would collapse in a matter of hours without them. The Government has decided to pick a fight with those workers by freezing recruitment. The Government has called it a "pause" but that is playing with words. It is a recruitment freeze. Vacancies across the country will go unfilled. Stressed-out workers will be put under even more pressure to cover work that is not theirs. I am glad these workers are standing up for themselves and protesting at hospital gates again today. As we speak, workers at Cork University Hospital are lining the pavement and holding their placards aloft. I have no doubt there will be a lot of noise in Wilton as people honk their car horns in support. The public know these workers are fighting not just for themselves but for the public's health service. End the recruitment freeze now.

I thank the Deputy and fully agree with the sentiment that these are valued and essential healthcare workers in our system. It is why in the lifetime of this Government we have had an unprecedented increase in management and administrative grades. The Deputy will be aware that the management and administrative workforce has gone from 18,000 to 24,000 in the lifetime of this Government. We have invested at a level that has never before been seen. When all of those funded posts were filled, as is the case with every school and Garda station, and as is the case here in the Oireachtas and with every employer in the country, we had to stop hiring because there was no more funding. The same applies to medical and nursing grades, and for health and social care professionals. It is no different from a school principal hiring the number of administrators they can hire and when they have done so, not being able to hire any more. I must say that after the unprecedented level of investment, and when we did nothing other than stop hiring once the funded posts were filled, it is disappointing to see this response.