David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Ní Sheaghdha. I wish to put questions to Ms Clyne and Professor Irvine. I attended Professor Irvine's national conference last week and found all the contributions to be very interesting, but the issue of pay parity has arisen time and again. This has been on the agenda for a long time. There are 500 vacant consultant posts and unless we deal with the pay issue, we will not be able to attract consultants. What I can understand from the Minister for Health is that he sees the public-only consultant contracts as the solution to this. That would mean those who are on the type B contracts being asked to sign up to the Sláintecare contracts. In Professor Irvine's view, does that solve the problem? If it does not, what else needs to be done?

The same question is addressed to Ms Clyne. I also have a question for Ms Clyne regarding GPs. We need more training positions to come through, but also better supports and pathways for GPs to practise when they come through. The age demographic of GPs is obviously not good. It is a major challenge. Perhaps Ms Clyne will respond on the issue of GPs and ensuring there is a better pathway when they come from training to practise, and both witnesses will respond to the question of how we get more doctors and consultants into the system. Aside from the pay issue, there are other issues relating to caseload, workload, access to theatre space, equipment and so forth. Perhaps Professor Irvine will address those issues first, followed by Ms Clyne.