'Deeply concerning' HSE staff cannot answer Dáil queries, says Cork TD

Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould, said: 'If the public do not know what is happening in the health service, they cannot trust it. That is the reality. Picture: Dan Linehan.
The unanswered questions included how many shifts longer than 12 hours were undertaken by paramedics in the National Ambulance Service in each of the past six months, and exactly how many staff have been working in the service and how many calls have been responded to each year for the last 10 years in Cork.
Unions representing health-sector staff have been calling the Pay and Numbers strategy “a recruitment embargo by another name” since it was implemented in July of last year.