Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for his response and appreciate the information he has provided. The main issue on which the people want a response in this regard concerns the biggest category in the public sector, health services, which employ approximately one third of all public servants. Somewhere along the line, the Minister, Deputy Reilly, must be brought into line with everything happening in the public service. He has obtained an exemption from the pay ceiling for hospital consultants and there are a couple of thousand hospital consultants earning more than the Taoiseach. That is wrong. Every Member of the Cabinet probably knows in his or her heart that this is wrong. How has the Minister for Health the ability to circumvent the pay ceilings? I see it as a discourtesy that the HSE or the Minister for Health can allow a situation where the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform must come into the Dáil today and say he will have to exclude the health services. They must be brought to heel at some stage.

We are not in opposition to the health services, but they are hiding under the radar. We know they have already gone over budget by €150 million in the first quarter and by July we will see hospital and bed closures. In the meantime, we will not have been informed of the cost of using agency staff. Agency nurses are being employed throughout the country and paying them costs more than rehiring nurses as allowed under the existing arrangement. Is there a legal limit on the number that can be rehired? The Minister has said the minimum number possible should be rehired. Is there a limit on the period of time in which these people can be rehired? Can the Minister establish a limit? Can he send out a circular to say the limit is six months and that nobody can be rehired after that?

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