Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Question No. 58, does not relate to working conditions or the conditions of non-consultant hospital doctors, their career paths or anything else in that line so I wonder why it was grouped with these questions. My question relates to the Minister's involvement in the dispute since the IMO balloted for industrial action. Much has been made in this House by the Minister about his taking back responsibility into the Department. He has said that the buck stops with him in terms of responsibility for the operation of the health services, the changes that have taken place within the HSE and the abolition process in that regard. Why did it go down to the wire, to the last minute, for interaction to take place with the doctors in this dispute? I welcome that industrial action has been delayed or postponed and I understand talks are talking place in the LRC today. However, the Minister should have acted long before without there being the need to take this to the wire, with consequent concerns being expressed in the wider community as well as among the doctors. That is a key point.

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