James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With regard to consultants, it has always been the case that there are some geographical locations where it is difficult to fill consultant posts. Some specialties are difficult to fill and it is the same with nurses. At the moment we have an active campaign to recruit theatre nurses and intensive care nurses. We are told it is all related to salary, but nothing could be further from the truth. The starting pay for a consultant in the UK is £80,000, which is about €100,000. The starting pay on offer here is between €116,000 and €121,000. It does not stand up.

It was never my intention that the starting salary is what is offered to a returning professor of cardiology who has been in Toronto for ten years. No job works that way. If members say we are being unfair to those starting off, in virtually every walk of life people with more experience command a higher level of remuneration than those starting off. There is nothing surprising about that.

Deputy Kelleher mentioned Trolley Watch and said there were 410 people on trolleys. There are 327 people on trolleys, according to the INMO-agreed Trolley Watch. There is also Ward Watch, which counts people on trolleys in the ward and people in beds that they consider not to be appropriately placed. There are some minor disagreements about the numbers but the bottom line is that the Deputy cannot compare that figure - the combination of the two - because we did not have the second figure last year, the year before or in 2011, when we had 569 people on trolleys according to Trolley Watch. God knows how many more would have been on Ward Watch. There has been a real and sustained improvement and for that I thank the staff working on the front line, who have done an amazing job despite the fact that-----