Professor Robert Landers:

Deputy Durkan mentioned costs to the system. There is no cost to the system; the cost is to the patients if we do not address the issues. The cost is to our brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers. It is not just cancer care. It is the cataract operations and hip operations.

It is like the child who has got publicity in the past day or two and who is waiting until 2024 for an MRI scan. There will be a scandalous, unsustainable cost to patients unless we address the issues. The solutions are hidden in plain sight. We must sort out the recruitment crisis by ending the discrimination, and we have to do so now. There is no point waiting six to 12 months for this. We know what to do. Let us get on and do it. Let us get engagement from the Minister and the Department on this and then we can begin to make progress.