Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

That all sounds fine. The reality, however, is that the discussions with the Department have not been successful. The Minister is talking about a framework which is all fine. We need commitments on this, however. Ireland is an outlier. There are 72 public health doctors who are specialists. They have the same qualifications as all other consultants and yet they are the only specialty that does not have consultant grade.

Will the Minister give a commitment tonight that those 72 specialists, with all the qualifications to become consultants, will be upgraded to consultant level? Will he agree that this is part of his plan? It is critical, as well as introducing the additional support staff but also other doctors and consultants.

We are an outlier also in terms of having such a low number of public health doctors, 72. The number is double or nearly treble that in other countries of comparable size such as Scotland or New Zealand. Will the Minister give that commitment tonight?

I thank the Deputy. I share her views. The 72 doctors she has mentioned include 15 public health specialists and 17 directors of public health, who obviously have wider remits. The public health doctors we have on the ground are even more stretched.

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