Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

Part of the new contract includes longer working days and cover for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, where required. We will not be funding the substantial overtime bills that we fund at the moment. These have arisen because of the manner in which we have employed consultants in the past. It is often the case that because consultants work across several different sites ward rounds are done in the evening and the team has to stay back on overtime to accompany the consultant so there are many such issues to be resolved.

I am not saying that the additional money will be a zero sum game for the Health Service Executive but the bulk of the additional resources will come from reducing the number of non-consultant hospital doctors, many of whom are qualified to be consultants, and enhancing the number of consultants.

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