This afternoon, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, is picketing outside Cork University Hospital, CUH. Its members are seriously concerned about the situation we are facing into this winter. Yesterday, in October, there were 73 patients on trolleys in CUH and nine patients on trolleys in the Mercy hospital. There was an increase of 50% in the number of people on trolleys between August and September. The INMO is telling the Government that it is "obstructing safe staffing in a way that is simply irresponsible". That is a serious charge but it is one that the INMO clearly feels can be borne out. Posts are being suppressed and that is having a considerable impact on patient safety. Will the Minister address the posts that are being suppressed and the impact on the patient safety? Will he also ask the Minister for Health to consider the fact that CUH is consistently up with UHL in the list of hospitals with the most patients on trolleys and the need for a particular package for CUH.

As I have said in reply to others, the Government is hugely committed to supporting the nursing and midwifery workforce. There are over 27,000 more staff working in our health system than there were at the beginning of 2020. That is a 23% increase over this period and includes more than 9,000 additional nurses and midwives. OECD statistical data shows that Ireland has more practising nurses per 1,000 of the population than nearly all other European countries and has the second highest among the reported EU countries.

When it comes to the wider framework that the Government has set out, €56 million has been provided to implement the safe staffing framework for nurses and healthcare assistants in our acute hospital system. Thousands of additional nurses were hired to support the framework. An additional 500 hires, for example, are in train for 2024. Once those 500 staff members are hired, that will help to support the wider framework as it is set out.