Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is a runaway train at this stage. I do not mean to be dramatic, but I am concerned. I have read much of the material the witnesses have supplied. We are clearly not breeding a new cohort of consultants, given that we are not training them. If we are not paying them, they will stay abroad or go to the private sector.

Senator Burke often speaks about the differential in the recruitment of front-line staff versus managers. If we are top heavy, what is the witnesses' view on the manager idea? Is it to manage consultants? What is the logic behind there being so many administrative staff and others in the system who do not cure or fix anything? Is it an anti-consultant attitude, as in, consultants are always asking for things but they are grand really? Why is the HSE placing more value on managers than people like consultants who can fix illness?