Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister mentioned exceptional circumstances but the issue is that the same chief executives have become chief executives of the groups. Their positions in the hospitals must be filled so a hospital senior executive manager has to move from another place. We are seeing a de factolocum system for managers in our health service. It is a managerial merry-go-round. It is a cosy cartel, with insiders in senior executive hospital positions rotating around. If we ran our hospitals in the same way as the managers are moving around, we would be in complete chaos. It is the equivalent of consultants or senior clinicians rotating around the different hospitals every year, so they cannot implement change management. We have a system of managers changing but no strategic change within our health service. I urge the Minister to investigate the rotation of managers within senior executive positions in the health service. It is not transparent, despite the exceptional circumstances. I do not accept the point about the eligibility criteria. I urge the Minister to deal with this matter soon.

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