Carol Nolan TD calls for urgent action on €748 million agency staffing costs in health sector

Independent TD Carol Nolan has expressed serious concern over the €748 million spent on agency staff in Department of Health-funded services in the eleven months to the end of November 2025.

Deputy Nolan described the figure as “a stark illustration of the unsustainable reliance on temporary staffing arrangements.”

The information was provided after the Offaly TD tabled a Parliamentary Question on the issue, asking Minister Jennifer Carrol MacNeil breakdown of the costs associated with agency staffing in the health sector; the measures in place to reduce reliance on such staffing to ensure value for public money.

Deputy Nolan said the expenditure highlights the significant additional cost to the taxpayer of agency staffing compared to direct HSE employment.

“While I welcome the commitment in the HSE’s 2026 National Service Plan to reduce agency costs by €80 million next year, the scale of the current expenditure in just eleven months demonstrates how far we have drifted from a sustainable staffing model,”

“Agency staffing is significantly more expensive than employing permanent staff, and this level of spending represents poor value for public money at a time when our health service is under severe pressure.”

“Patients deserve consistent care delivered by permanent, directly employed staff who are fully integrated into their teams.”

Deputy Nolan also noted that the proposed measures, including recruiting and converting agency workers to permanent roles, establishing so-called ‘internal staff banks’, improving rostering to reduce overtime and agency need, implementing stricter controls, and eliminating off-framework agency use are positive steps:

“These actions are long overdue and must be implemented swiftly and effectively through the 2026 Productivity and Savings Taskforce Action Plan,” she said.

“I will continue to monitor progress closely to ensure that the promised €80 million reduction is delivered and that we move decisively towards a health service that relies on secure, permanent staffing rather than costly temporary arrangements.”