Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

A period of three months would not be unreasonable.

Two issues arise in respect of the six-month period. For all sorts of reasons, 1 January is the worst possible day of the year on which to start a new job. The position is similar as regards 1 July. It was suggested to me that the commencement dates should be moved to March and October. I have forgotten what reasons were offered in respect of not doing so. I have not succeeded in convincing people that the timeframe should be changed. Perhaps it relates to an overlap period. People go on holidays in July and it is difficult for a new person to commence work on 1 January in a hospital because many people are on leave and it is a bank holiday. We may need to consider the position in this regard.

A longer timeframe is required in respect of contracts of employment. Issues arise in this regard in circumstances where one member of a small team is obliged to take maternity leave. That is why we needed to increase the number of therapists available and put in place the primary care initiatives in order that there would not be an over-reliance on particular individuals because one person could be sick and another might have family commitments. There are provisions in law under which, for example, people can take time off to care for relatives without their employment being affected. If a service for a region is totally dependent on one or two people, patients will lose out if either individual is not available. That is why it is important to strengthen teams so that they will not be dependent on one or two people.