Mr. Tony O'Brien:

In fairness to the majority of consultants working in the public service, this is not a problem general to all consultants but to some of them. However, it is a significant issue. I spoke of this at the most recent meeting of the Joint Committee on Health and Children I attended. This issue also formed part of the discussions at the Labour Relations Commission that involved the two bodies representing consultants. It is part of the consultations and processes under way in regard to that agreement. We are looking in greater detail at the information. As I said at the meeting of the Joint Committee on Health and Children, we are moving towards, subject to data protection issues, publication of granular information which would not identify patients but would clearly identify those persons who are not discharging their responsibilities in terms of the signing of forms. There is a significant amount of money at stake at any given time. It is primarily a cash flow issue. If the forms were signed quickly more cash would be brought forward and the position would, it is hoped, be kept up to date.