Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I can commit to a doubling of the public health workforce in consultation with the public health doctors, and to the creation of the public health consultant contract. The Deputy is quite right. This is something they have been seeking for decades. There is a process under way between the Department and the IMO. For me to make the definitive statements the Deputy is looking for would not be respectful of the process which the doctors' representative group is going through with the Department. With respect, I will leave it to the IMO, the Department and the Government to continue those conversations. I want to see those doctors respected and recognised as specialists. I want to see consultant-level contracts established for public health doctors as soon as possible.

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