Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The health committee will hold hearings in the Seanad Chamber on Friday from 9.30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and likewise on Monday and Tuesday next week. More than 36 medical professionals will give evidence. I know that Members may be inconvenienced because the Seanad is not sitting on Tuesday but it is important for continuity that the hearings are held on successive days. Last January, the health committee proved that the consultation process was extremely helpful in dealing with this issue. Likewise, the public hearings this Friday and on Monday and Tuesday next week, will also be helpful in teasing out the issues to ensure that the legislation will be constitutional and capable of implementation. This very important issue needs to be given the space and time which it is being allocated. The people who will appear before the committee over the three days of hearings are attending voluntarily. They do not have to attend but they want to make a contribution to this debate and to legislation in this area.

I refer to Senator Jim Walsh's point about appointments in the health service. I am extremely concerned about that issue. For example, 95% of all consultant posts advertised in the past six to eight months have not been filled. I can inform the House that they will not be filled. We need to examine how junior doctors and consultants are appointed. I have put this matter - which I have been raising for the past 18 months - on the agenda for the meeting of the health committee next Thursday. The problem is not going away. I am very concerned that more than 2,000 junior doctors are on six-month contracts while the HSE has made an agreement with a university in Pakistan to give two-year contracts to graduates from Pakistan universities. This does not make sense. It is time for a review by all the training bodies, the hospitals, the HSE and the Department of Health, of the long-term planning for the employment of medical expertise. I ask for a debate on this issue.