Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. McCallion. I would appreciate that.

I wish to come back to Mr. Woods. The other big challenge in the hospitals, apart from the inadequate number of beds, is the high number of vacancies among doctors in particular. We were promised a few months ago an additional 1,000 consultant posts and that they would be employed on the basis of what is called a Sláintecare public-only contract.

Where are we in preparation for that as regards the legislation for the contract and the discussions with the relevant groups? At what point does Mr. Woods expect to be starting that recruitment campaign?