Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I add my congratulations to those who were reappointed and those who are newly appointed. I say well done to them all. I will try to keep my questions brief. I will take a deep breath and lash through them. The first one relates to Brexit.

We had the Department's Brexit committee before us. Its members were woefully unprepared for the delights coming in our direction with regard to Brexit. Have the arrangements for the sharing of services cross-Border been Brexit-proofed? Do we have a Brexit-proof agreement with the North for the sharing of services in general and specifically in Altnagelvin? What concerned me was when I asked the members tasked by the Department of Health to deal with Brexit if they had ascertained the extent to which we are reliant on Britain for health care, they did not know. When I asked them the numbers, they did not know. When I pursued it with them, they advised that it was only when they got the invitation to the committee that it occurred to them to start asking those questions. I am prepared to be very surprised on this. I would like to hear that the Department is very prepared for Brexit and has a plan. It might be helpful if it was shared with the people on the Brexit committee because they were clearly not aware of it because they could not share it with me.

With regard to the consultants, an issue was aired at the weekend whereby 128 non-specialist consultants are being paid as specialist consultants. This is a question directly for the HSE. Some of this has occurred because of contracts of indefinite duration. We all know what they mean. We also know that when a person starts working on day 1 there is four years and the clock is ticking. The HSE's response to my parliamentary question pointed to this as very bad practice. When people are being paid as if they are on the specialist register when they are not, it presents a difficulty for patients because clearly they want to know the person they are dealing with has the qualification they believe they have. A CID is never a surprise.

Ms Mannion will be very familiar with this. A CID is never a shock because it takes four years to accrue an entitlement to a CID. From day 1, the clock is ticking and the knowledge should be there that every day a person comes to work he or she is accruing an entitlement to a CID. On top of the 128, which we all agree is not good, how many more are on the threshold of a contract of indefinite duration? They are legally entitled to it but no steps are being taken to ensure that situation does not arise. I am not suggesting for a moment that the HSE should try to avoid or evade its responsibility to issue CIDs because it should not, but it is creating the situation it gave out about in the response to my parliamentary question.

Deputy Kelleher raised the issue of GP contracts. The Minister says he wants it to be finished in 2017. Is the Minister confident it will be finished in 2017? Is he confident that all the i's will be dotted and t's crossed by the end of this year? If not, are there any contingency arrangements in place for the continuation of those discussions?

I apologise because I had intended to get the questions in and time ran away from me. I apologise for not having these question in in advance. If the answers are not readily available, I will wait for a follow-up. I understand the boards of the hospital groups are to be put onto a statutory footing. Every time I ask the question I am told it will happen. The Minister is nodding his head. I would like to know when it will happen. I would also like to know what the delay is because I cannot fathom what the difficulty is.

The bed capacity review is a little like Christmas in that it is always coming. We are told it will be any day now. Could we have a date for it? A bed capacity review is not needed to tell us there is a shortage of capacity. We will have that debate another day.

I have a question specifically for the HSE. This is not specific to me or my party because I have talked to other people about it. There are serious delays in responses to representatives and parliamentary questions. Is there a staffing issue? Is there something going on? People who have been here a lot longer than me advise there is a particular problem and that the delays are not normally as bad as they appear to be at this time. Will the Minister speak to how we might address that?

I understand my five minutes was as long as the previous five minutes. The Devereaux case was a very tragic case. We all acknowledged it was heartbreaking and devoid of humanity. We understand now that due to the intervention of RTE it would appear the issue has been resolved for that family. The show in question only runs for an hour or an hour and a half so it will not have time to deal with all of the issues that will come up and neither should it have to. Has any guidance been issued to staff to ensure it will not happen again and that common sense, humanity and compassion will prevail in circumstances where it is patently obvious they should apply? Has guidance been issued? If it has not, can the Minister advise me specifically on what is being done to ensure it will not happen again? It was an awful case and it was heartbreaking. They should not have had to go to RTE in the way they did. What will be done to ensure it will not happen again?