Mr. Tony O'Brien:

In respect of the questions of Senator Colm Burke and Deputy Ó Caoláin on non-consultant hospital doctors and the issue of sanctions, the only issue that divided us during the talks process was the nature of those sessions. As members will be aware, the employer side, the HSE, was firmly of the view that these sanctions could not involve a formula that provided for additional remuneration to the individuals who were being obliged to work excess hours. At one point during the discussions, an opposite view was held by the Irish Medical Organisation side. I will ask Mr. Barry O'Brien to describe in detail what those sanctions are in a moment.

As for the issue of the €3.4 billion of funding to external agencies, these agencies fall into two categories, namely, section 38 agencies and section 39 agencies. Section 38 agencies are those which essentially are wholly funded by the public sector and their employees are considered to be public sector employees. Examples are places such as St. James's Hospital or Beaumont Hospital. Section 39 agencies are a wide variety of voluntary sector providers, which are mostly partially funded, even though the amount may be substantial. Senator Colm Burke made reference to a chief executive officer receiving a salary of €340,000, and I can confirm this is not a section 38 agency. The recent audit report, which we expect to be discussing with the Committee of Public Accounts next month, related to section 38 agencies. A clear guidance note - that is, a circular and instruction - has been issued to those entities and they are required to confirm their compliance with the terms of that circular to the HSE by the end of this month. Section 39 agencies will be subject to further audit work by HSE internal audit, supplemented by external auditors. I will now ask Mr. Barry O'Brien to speak on the sanctions issue.