Dr. John Hillery:

I will clarify the consultant issue and then hand over to my colleagues regarding the first question on training. "Consultant" is an honorary term and an advertising term. We just talk about specialists. We feel all consultants should be trained as specialists in the areas in which they are consultants.

Not all consultants are specialists, but they should be. Consultant is a job that is advertised by the HSE or by a private provider. Private providers tend to insist on people being on the specialist register, but it is not necessarily so with temporary posts, especially. When the permanent posts were advertised by the HSE they are always for the specialist register but at the end of seven years, we certify people as specialists and we consider that they are competent to be specialists in that area and they are competent to be consultants.