Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister of State will be aware, we are now competing on the world market in respect of the employment of doctors. Any change being brought about which will facilitate the recruitment of doctors such that a very fast mechanism is in place is important. As for the scheme now in place, however, is there a need to set up a review of it in, say, six months to see how it is working and to see if any further changes can be made in order to make sure we are not losing people with the medical skills to other jurisdictions? We are competing with Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Therefore, we need to be fast and efficient in dealing with applications. Can a review process be put in place in, say, 12 months to see how the scheme is working, if further changes need to be made and if there are glitches in the system that need to be resolved?

See this speech in context