Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I hope I can shed some light on the issue Deputy Clarke raised with the Minister. I completely accept that the Minister can only use the information he is given. Having been a medical officer, I probably have slightly more accurate information that may be able to shed some light on proceedings. First, there should be approximately 32 medical officers in the Defence Forces. I am not sure where the figure of 28 came from. Without splitting hairs, however, approximately one third or 30% of medical officer posts are vacant at the moment. In the HSE, approximately 20% of consultant posts are vacant and that is causing mayhem. The Minister can imagine, therefore, the carnage in the Medical Corps as a result of its even higher proportion of vacancies.

I am particularly concerned about news from Syria over the past few weeks where, during a window of five or six weeks, there was no Medical Corps officer available. This is unprecedented in Irish peacekeeping history. The question is how we solve the retention problem because there is an exodus. Retention is primarily about pay from a medical officer point of view. I will give the Minister a quick example. The Irish Prison Service advertised for doctors earlier in the summer. It was offering €147,000 per year, plus a plethora of allowances, for doctors whereas Medical Corps doctors are paid half that amount. Will the Minister intervene with his Cabinet colleagues to ensure medical officers are paid at least on a par with other uniformed services in the public service?

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