Mr. Paul Reid:

I will make a few comments. The Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Henry, will then say a few words.

I reassure members that I am very conscious of the service provided by all our staff throughout the country. In my first week I spent time in Tullamore and Waterford and plan to be in Mullingar next week and also Sligo. I am fully conscious of the work that is taking place across the service.

Specifically on consultants, reference was made to some of the vacancies. I will give some up-to-date information. Overall, there are 3,388 consultant posts, of which 3,029 are occupied by permanent and non-permanent staff. We had a discussion on contract holders. There are 359 posts unoccupied across the country. The consultant posts unoccupied are across a range of specialties and hospital groups. Psychiatry is the specialty with the most posts unoccupied. As the Minister said, we are working on the challenge. Let me give a figure for last year. We are up by 119 consultants by comparison with the figure in March last year, which represents an increase of 4%. The process is ongoing. We are up by a further 16 since the start of the year. It is a process we are working through, challenging though it is.

I ask Dr. Henry to comment on the haemochromatosis issue.