Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Government, as provided for in the programme for Government, is committed to introducing the new public-only consultant contract. I want to do so in a timely manner. A new consultant contract, as I know the Deputy will agree, is one of the important steps towards universal, single-tier healthcare, with public hospitals exclusively used for the treatment of public patients. That is the cornerstone of the contract from the State's perspective.

Last July, terms of reference were agreed with the representative bodies. There were several months of talks with an independent chair. My Department, in conjunction with the HSE, engaged with the representative bodies, the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, and the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, IHCA, on the new contract last autumn. As the Deputy will be aware, those talks continued until Christmas. The chair was appointed to the High Court and had to go.

My preference is that the new contract will be introduced following negotiation and agreement. My strong preference is that this is an agreed contract. I am committed to recommencing the talks very soon under a new independent chair. I recently met with the IHCA and the IMO about the talks and their parameters, and some of the key issues around the talks, with a view to getting all the groups back into a room. We do not have a set date for the talks to reconvene but my hope is that it will happen very soon. It is my intention and that of the Government to have this contract in place this year.

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