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

Perhaps, the Minister will come back to us with a note on that, if he does not mind. I will come back to the issue of consultants' contracts. There are a number of questions around that and I am aware the Minister has spoken about some of them already. We cannot run the health service unless we have enough consultants. It is clear there is a major problem. Whether it is with consultants or nurses, why do we continue with agency staff when it is much cheaper to employ full-time permanent staff? Why are so many consultants, in particular, doing agency work? Is it the case that a person is better paid as an agency doctor over and above what he or she would earn on contract? Are there other advantages compared with being on contract?