Ms Laura Magahy:

The first question concerned telemedicine and the eHealth Ireland programme. The Senator is correct that during the Covid-19 pandemic these have been fast-tracked and demonstrated to have worked extremely well. There will be no going back from that. The original plan holds firm as we need a shared care record and systems in place in hospitals and the community to contribute to the shared care record so that no matter where somebody goes, he or she can have a record. People should not be asked the same question over and over. That original plan still holds true and, as I said, some of it was fast-tracked as a result of Covid-19 requirements for remote consultations and not meeting people in public, etc.

We have details of our eHealth programme if the Senator is interested in following up. I apologise as we expected our eHealth person, Mr. Niall Sinnott, to join us but he is speaking about the vaccination certificate as we speak. We need to excuse him for not joining us. If any follow-up is required, I am very happy to take that.

The second question concerned the consultant contract. We have issued the contract to the representative bodies and we are really hoping for dialogue, as I indicated earlier. There is room for movement on the non-Government policy decision areas and for substantial discussion or engagement. We really hope people will see the benefit of that. We have had feedback from many consultants who are positively disposed to the contract that this will give more security and it is a comparative rate internationally. They have indicated there are good supports with the basic salary. We really need the support of the consultant body and would really welcome further engagement with It.

On the question of the separation of public and private services, there has never been an argument with Sláintecare that there should no private care. Deputy Shortall is more versed in this than I but the framework was that there should be clear separation of private and public so there is no conflict. That is the question behind the consultant contract and that there should be no real conflict between treating somebody in the public hospital in six weeks or treating the same person in a private hospital tomorrow. That is the real issue at stake. The goal of Sláintecare is to separate public and private and not to eliminate private care. It is about ensuring there is no conflict and that public patients can be prioritised in public hospitals.