Mr. Martin Varley:

On the information the Deputy referred to in terms of 31% of the posts being on a temporary basis, that is because they cannot be filled on a permanent basis. Half of the approved posts which are not filled permanently are filled on a temporary basis, the other half are not filled at all. I am talking about the health service generally.

The issue of the duration of contracts can vary from months to years, sometimes repeated over several years. That gives rise to a situation where somebody who was appointed on a temporary basis may end up in a contract of indefinite duration, in other words, permanently in the post. A high percentage of the temporary appointees would be agency appointees with agency contracts. While we have submitted a freedom of information request to the HSE for information as to what they are paid, to date most of the replies I have received in recent months refused to provide me with information on the cost of an agency consultant or doctor. Therefore, I do not have that information. I know of evidence in acute hospitals generally rather than in the mental health sector where the payment for agency employees could be significantly above that of a long-serving permanent consultant.

Regarding consultants' salaries, I should add that the maximum is €185,000, as referred to by Dr. Browne. The starting point for newly appointed consultants is about €120,000. The starting point for a medical graduate joining a hospital as an intern is in the early to mid-€30,000s. When one compares their salaries with hospitals elsewhere, those hospitals elsewhere pay more. Unfortunately, those are the facts internationally, when one makes international comparisons. I am not sure if I covered all the Deputy's questions.