Mr. Jim Breslin:

I do, and I think it will be tested. The HSE will have to look at some of the applications and see how they do this. Those consultants did not sign up to the 2008 contract even before this issue arose. They chose not to move on to that contract in 2008 when it was expected that there would be increases. The question now arises of how they would be treated if they were to move across to the new contract. The HSE would have to look at that and first decide if it will agree to the contract change. The likelihood is, if someone wanted to move on to a 2008 contract, so long as it is equivalent and they are not moving from no private practice to private practice, the HSE would probably look favourably on it. It would then have to determine, based on the circumstances of that individual, where is an appropriate point for them to be placed. To my knowledge, that has not happened yet.