Mr. Fergal Goodman:

The Department and, if I can speak for it, the HSE would not have a difficulty in doing that. If one looks back at the last decade, in particular from the perspective of those working in both salaried health services and in contracted services, salary reductions and fee cuts probably left everyone in an uncomfortable position. There may have been a feeling among those providing services that things were done to them rather than they were part of a process, which was the traditional model of engagement. As I said earlier, the new policy is a very good basis on which to engage and we have an absolute obligation and necessity to do so.