Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The report was commissioned in 2001 and it is now 2013. We have not had a junior doctors' strike in 25 years but we have one today. That is the difficulty. Regardless of whether it was the previous incumbent or not, we did not have industrial disputes of this nature. We now have a situation where over 3,000 NCHDs are outside our hospitals today and it is impacting on the delivery of health care.

We all accept that junior doctors have an integral role to play in the provision of health care in this country. They are the bulwark of our health services and do a huge amount of work. The point, as the Minister has stated, is that the working arrangements are not satisfactory. I know he has commissioned reports, including one by an individual who will report back to us with regard to what is required to attract and retain our NCHDs and the provision of clear pathways in the years ahead with regard to training and career options. I accept that all this is very positive but in the meantime, there has been a fundamental breakdown in trust and I am asking the Minister to tell me why this has happened. Is it because the HSE is dragging its feet? Is it because management in some areas of the HSE is not co-operating in terms of addressing the working time directive because it is being implemented in some hospitals? In these hospitals, rostering is being implemented to accommodate and comply with the working time directive but we do not have that in other areas.

Clearly, the HSE has a major problem in trying to deal with this and trust between the two sides has completely broken down. The key question is why this is the case. Does the Minister have full confidence in the HSE and does it have his full support in dealing with this issue because it is critically important? The NCHDs do not have faith in the HSE and have expressed that on a number of occasions. They do not believe there is a commitment to sanctions for those hospitals that fail to implement the working time directive. Does the Minister have full faith in the HSE management to address this particular issue and to get our junior doctors back to work?

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