Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State says there is no endless pot of money and I agree. Is it not then extraordinary that €1 billion can be found to build the same hospital? When it comes to certain things, there is an endless pot of money. My calculation is that the switch can be flipped. When our healthcare system is about to explode and half a million people are waiting to see a consultant, it can be done. Flipping that switch would cost approximately €25 million a year by comparison to an additional €1 billion for the children's hospital. The Minister has met the Irish Hospital Consultants Association once. That was last week and after the association had waited a year for the meeting. I am sure the Minister of State saw The Irish Timestoday which featured new research that half of hospital doctors in Ireland are emotionally exhausted and overwhelmed by work. One third are experiencing burnout. We are mistreating, disrespecting, overworking and ignoring our hospital consultants, doctors and nurses. Today is about hospital consultants, of whom we need more. We need them to be able to do the best job they can do. We do not have enough of them and they are becoming burned out, are leaving the country and are not coming back. If the Minister of State does not believe a switch can be flipped, albeit I do, when does the Government expect to see actual movement to close the gap for new-entrant consultants?

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