Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Absolutely, and in that regard in general, we already have brought in Professor Frank Murray to do a body of work. We believe - I need to be careful as I do not have the details to hand and do not want to misspeak - they are not all working within the public health service, which is an issue worth pointing out. The global figure that has been put out there does not pertain entirely to HSE facilities and I have made that point before.

I also make the point that initial indications from the HSE to me suggest that many of these consultants could be on the specialist register but for whatever reason, have not registered with it or joined it.

That is a simply unacceptable situation which is being addressed by the national director of HR. Much work is being done in that regard. The number is declining but it must decline significantly more. The comments of the President of the High Court in that regard are very fair and we take them extremely seriously.