At present the vacancy rate amongst non-consultant hospital doctors is less than 1%; the actual figure is 0.65%, which is based on 25.5 vacancies out of a total cohort of 3,925 non-consultant hospital doctors. This vacancy rate would be the envy of any commercial enterprise and indicates the status of the health service as being an employer of choice. These figures should be read in the context of a 20% increase in NCHD numbers over the last three years and is all the more remarkable when one considers the highly mobile character of this particular cohort as a medical profession. It is a testament to the Government's commitment to funding the highest standards of medical care and personnel for the Irish health service.