Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

The Deputy misunderstands. These posts are not being funded by additional revenue. The idea is that we suppress junior posts to create senior ones. All bodies acknowledge that we need 6,000 hospital doctors, 4,000 consultants and 2,000 juniors. We have 4,000 juniors and 2,000 consultants. The Deputy knows from his own experience that suppressing the cost of many of the non-consultant doctors will more than meet the cost of appointing consultants. The intention is that the additional resources, such as they are, will mainly come from the suppression of junior posts rather than additionality.

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