Dr. Brian Turner:

Yes, although one is talking in billions of euro in terms of increasing capacity in addition to the capital spending that would be required. Is it affordable? That is something the committee needs to examine in terms of how much one is willing to pay for our public health system. Using private capacity in the short to medium term is a pragmatic solution. Long term, however, we should be aiming for a separation of the two.

I am aware that the consultant contract and the recruitment of consultants is an issue, particularly in certain specialty areas. It would need to be looked at in the context of any contract renegotiations as to what would attract consultants. I have a debate every so often with a colleague of mine about how much consultants should be paid. His attitude is we should pay them whatever they want given what they do and what we do. He believes we should pay them a multiple of what we are on because they are saving lives.