Mr. Bernard Gloster:

After Christmas, there was a very significant positive response to Dr. Henry's request of his clinical colleagues. Regarding working over seven, I really want to be clear about this. I dealt with this in a radio interview on RTÉ two weeks ago. I know the Senator does not mean it this way but when we talk about one discipline, there is an awful danger of demonising that discipline and transferring the blame for a problem on to that discipline. When I talk about seven over seven working, if a queue of consultants lined up to work next Saturday and Sunday, they would be very limited unless I could give them what they needed around them to make their decisions effective so I am talking about the totality of disciplines. I will let the Senator know after the June bank holiday weekend how it actually worked because the request is going out to them today but that is just testing it. My plan is to permanently change it. The new consultant contract allows for it over six but it relates to all of the staffing services such as radiographers and allied health professionals. I am intent on pushing that to the greatest extent possible.