Mr. Tony O'Brien:

What came out of the committee’s engagement with St. Vincent’s University Hospital was a wide range of issues which had obviously started off with public pay policy. All of the unauthorised allowances, the subject of the discussion, were discontinued in line with the commitments made by the chairman when he attended the committee. It included some staff members actually leaving the public service altogether.

The outstanding issue relates to the relationship between St. Vincent’s Private Hospital and St. Vincent's University Hospital which are under the combined management of a board known as the St. Vincent's Hospital Group. The concern aired by the committee at the time - it is continuing - was that consultants whose contracts did not permit them to work in private hospitals were being permitted by the St. Vincent's Hospital Group to do so. The information I have available is that approximately 56% of the admitting consultants at St. Vincent’s Private Hospital are consultants whose contracts do not permit them to work there. We have been seeking to obtain full disclosure by the new board. There was a change of board-----