Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)

When we had the CEO of the HSE here, I asked him when we would get to 100% uptake of consultant contracts. He said:

It will probably be another three or four years before we are close to it. As long as there is a person on the 2008 contract and they have not retired, it will not be 100%. That is the timeline. The cohort of consultants who were there in 2008 will be looking towards retirement in ten years' time. Of the people who are available and willing to convert, we have probably seen most of those for now [which is what the Minister has said].

The CEO referred to a ten-year timeline. Is that what the Minister would see?