Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Following the discussions that we had at the Cabinet committee on social policy, as health is of such importance to the general well-being of our nation I considered it sufficiently important to form a specific Cabinet committee dealing with health. It has not yet been formalised but will be by next week and Ministers involved in health will obviously serve on it. It will focus on the myriad issues in the area of health that need attention, as distinct from the Cabinet dealing on an extensive basis with matters related to health.

The Minister for Health has pointed out what has been going on in regard to non-consultant hospital doctors and the difficulties we have had as a country because of the registration facility that exists here. When we moved away from temporary registration we lost the opportunity to bring in many junior doctors or non-consultant hospital doctors to the extent that we should have. The Government considered the issue today and changes will be introduced.

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