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

I must remind the Minister that he said at the IHCA conference several months ago that he wanted the contract finalised within weeks. He said in reply to a number of parliamentary questions over the past six months that his timeframe was a number of weeks. There has been considerable slippage and one must question if the Minister is serious about this.

There is a point I wish to make. The Minister is negotiating with people who are already in posts and are operating under different arrangements entirely. When I raised this issue with the Minister a number of months ago, I asked him to meet with the hospital doctor retention and motivation project, led by Dr. Niamh Humphries. Representatives of the group were before the Joint Committee on Health. They have done incredibly important and interesting research on why it is that so many of our doctors leave these shores and go to work elsewhere. As far as I know, the Minister has not met the representatives of that group. Perhaps I am wrong on that and I hope I am. Has he considered the points that group is raising about the reasons people are leaving and the kind of new contract we need?

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