A STAGGERING €21million was spent by University Hospital Limerick (UHL) last year on agency staff to cover gaps in full-time hospital staff positions, sick leave, and other shortfalls.
And the hospital had already spent €8m filling staff shortages at UHL up to May of this year.
€31m was spent in 2024 in the UL Hospitals Group as a whole for the same coverage.
Limerick Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan described the HSE’s reliance on outsourced staff as” unacceptable and completely unsustainable”.
Figures released to Sinn Féin health spokesperson David Cullinane show a total of €725m was spent across the state last year, a 33 per cent increase since 2021.
Deputy Quinlivan said that “it is completely unacceptable that HSE spending on outsourced staffing continues to spiral upwards”.
“It is staggering that €31,123,000 was spent on agency staff in the UHL group in 2024. It is staggering that over €21million of that was spent on agency staff at University Hospital Limerick in 2024 alone.”
The Limerick TD continued that “across the state, over €725million was spent on agency staffing and the spend has not slowed in 2025”.
“Since 2021, the HSE has forked out €2.9billion on private agency staffing, which comes at a premium cost. It is incredible that the HSE could consider this wasteful spending to be sustainable.”
Deputy Quinlivan believes that the costs are “directly related to the government’s arbitrary recruitment limits under the pay and numbers strategy”.
“These staff are needed to provide essential services, but they cannot be recruited directly, so the HSE is paying a premium price for agency workers instead.
“The health service needs an ambitious and realistic workforce plan to directly train, recruit, and retain the workers needed to safely staff the health service, and strict targets to significantly reduce runaway agency spending,” he concluded.
In response to the figures for agency staff use, the national HSE said it has difficulty in finding qualified staff for some positions, noting that a shortage of accommodation for staff is also a problem.
“The direct recruitment and retention of key clinical and patient-facing staff is a constant challenge and impacts adversely on the ability to maintain safe and effective services. This is not unique to Ireland, but rather a global health workforce challenge,” a spokesperson said.
“As part of the HSE’s overarching resourcing approach where existing resources do not meet the needs of service delivery requirements, agency staff are utilised. This can be for a variety of reasons: a surge in demand, unexpected absences both long and short term, and to temporarily fill vacancies being actively recruited.”
The HSE added that additional resourcing requirements have occurred as a result of the replacement of lost hours in critical services areas following the reversal of the Haddington Road Agreement, combined with increasing demand due to population growth.
“In advance of the filling of these hours via direct employees, there is a need to prioritise critical services for replacement through agency and overtime,” the HSE said.
“At times the HSE have been unable to fill a vacancy even via agency. The WHO predict there will be a shortage of 11 million healthcare workers by 2030. Suppliers of agency workers have indicated that they experience difficulty in meeting demand due to a lack of availability of qualified personnel.”
