Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will disregard much of the rest of the fluff. The Minister said ten consultant positions have been recruited. How many of those are coming from the other hospitals? Are they all coming from abroad? Are they all new entrants into the system? Will they provide the additionality the Minister says will be provided? We have just agreed that without additional staff, there will be no additionality.

There was a commitment to operate seven days a week from 8 a.m. until midnight. When will we know what the opening hours will be? Obviously, people need to plan. The health service does not run on a 24-hour cycle and it needs to plan in advance. The other hospitals will also need to know. When does the Minister believe we will know whether the opening hours will be as committed to, namely, from 8 a.m. until midnight seven days a week, or, as I suspect, office hours and only five days a week? I sincerely hope I am proved wrong on that but I do not have confidence at this stage. The Minister might tell me how many of the ten posts are whole-time equivalent and how many are coming from other hospitals.

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