Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)

I apologise to the witnesses but I will have to be quick because the time is reducing. I welcome them to the committee. I have spoken to Mr. Gloster before. My wife is a senior medical scientist in CUH. My sister-in-law is a psychiatric nurse. My sister is a radiographer. I go to family dinners on occasions with dread because all we talk about is the HSE. That said, they love their jobs and I know the public, by and large, as Mr. Gloster just said, value the service they provide.

I was listening with interest. I do not mean to sound facetious, sarcastic or condescending in any way when I make this point. If a nurse is required to do extra time at work, he or she gets paid overtime or is on call. It is the same for a medical scientist or any of the other professions I just mentioned. How have we found ourselves in this system? I am assuming it has to do with where the focus lay. I am not saying it was done in any devious or underhanded way. Rather, the focus was obviously on the waiting lists and getting down the list. It probably is, or was, necessary. How have we arrived at a situation where, be it a consultant or someone more senior, can provide this insourcing or outsourcing, while a nurse, or anyone else for that matter, is expected to just do overtime?